The Fire Nation Betrayal
by Takato100
Summary: This about a guard on Zuko's ship who decides to join Aang on his journey. How will his presence affect the story. Tune in to find out.
1. The boy in the iceberg The Avatar return

I hate my element. It only causes pain and destruction. I didn't want this life but it was given to me so I have to live it. I'm a fire bender and I hate it. Like I said pain and destruction, which is why I've only mastered the basics. I didn't like what my nation was doing, forcing thousands to bow down to their rule, slaughtering thousands more if they didn't. That's why when the Fire Prince Zuko was banished and forced to leave his home, only to return with the Avatar, the master of all four elements, I went with him as a solider. I figured if the Avatar had survived the slaughter of his people, the air benders, and the prince found him and captured him I could help him escape. But at that moment that thought doesn't seem likely. I had almost run out of hope of finding the Avatar. It had been three years since Zuko was banished, we'd been all around the world and we had found jack squat in clues regarding the Avatar's whereabouts. I thought about ending my search and going to help one of the other nations on that fateful day.

I was standing at my position on the deck when I heard Tiger Seals roar in the distance. I looked up and saw a bright beam of light. Zuko was standing at the bow of the ship. His uncle sitting close behind him playing a game with tiles. Zuko was staring at the light wide eyed. "Finally." He said. "Uncle, do you understand what this means?" "I won't get to finish my game?" The great General Iroh asked somewhat sarcastically. "It means that my search, is about to come to an end." Zuko said confidently. The great general sighed tiredly as he put a tile in place. We had been down this road so many times I had lost track. Like I said, we'd been all around the world, so we had to come to the poles.

A few times Zuko saw the celestial lights of the poles and thought it was a clue to where the Avatar was hiding. But, every time it had turned out to be said lights. I could see why the general was tired. At sea with his crazy nephew, obsessed with finding the Avatar, who was probably already dead, and restoring his honor. We all knew it was a fool's errand. Well, everyone except Zuko.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!" He said hotly. "Or it's just the celestial lights." Said his wise Uncle. "We've been down this road before Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing." He placed down anther tile. "Please sit. Why don't you enjoy a calming cup of jasmine tea?" "I don't need any calming tea!" He burst out angrily. He yelled so loud at times it made me flinch. "I need to capture the Avatar. Helmsman, head a course for the light." He yelled up to the bridge. His Uncle frowned and set down another tile. Then a large gust of wind rattled his tiles. It sent a shiver through my body. It was about then that another guard came and relieved me from my post. I thanked him and headed below deck.

When I got to my quarters, I took off my helmet and fell on my bed. I rubbed my hands over my pale face, and through my dark brown hair. "What are you gonna do Lee?" I said to myself. "It's been three years since the search started and there's been nothing. No clues, no trails no nothing!" I threw my helmet to the side of the room angrily. "These past three years of my life have been a waste! I could be out helping some city or village, but no I had to go on this stupid hunt for a person who's probably dead!" I yelled. I was so angry that the lanterns in my room went out. I took a deep breath and calmed down. I got up and relit the lanterns. I sighed. "If we don't find anything tomorrow, I'm going to go help the earth kingdom."

**THE NEXT DAY**

I was on the deck drilling the basics with Zuko. We had been doing the same thing over and over again. "Again." Iroh said. Zuko fired a shot at both me and the other guard. He missed and I fired a quick shot at him. He jumped up and spun shooting a jet of fire in a circular motion. Then he did a flip and shot a jet of fire out of his right foot. The other guard and I jumped back. The great general sighed. "No." He said. "Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body; the energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." He launched a little bit of fire, to make his point. "Get it right this time." He said. "Enough." Zuko said impatiently. "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready." "No you are impatient." Replied his uncle. "You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!" Zuko growled and launched fire from his foot at me. I tried to protect myself with some fire but I was to slow, and I got knocked to the other side of the ship. When I finally got up, I heard Zuko say something about the advanced set and Iroh said something about roast duck.

* * *

I got up and headed for my usual post. If they were going to train in the more advanced levels of firebending, I wasn't going to be a part of it. About halfway through the day I saw a flare shoot up. I looked around and saw an old abandoned Fire Navy ship, and I could just barely make out a figure jumping around the outside of the ship. Then I heard Zuko yell. "Wake my Uncle! Tell him I've found the Avatar!" Thoughts swam in my head. _'It's him? It can't be the Avatar! This is just one of Zuko's mistakes…But what if it is the Avatar? Think about it you saw something jumping on that ship. Something…Or someone. No normal person could survive jumps like that. O.K. if this is really the Avatar I have to get him to trust me. But I guess I'll figure that out as I go.'_ We started heading for this village a little ways away from where we saw the ship.

* * *

I was preparing myself mentally for meeting the Avatar. This was supposed to be at least a 100-year-old man, with the ability to command all four elements. It would be an honor and a privilege to serve with such a wise and powerful man. We were waiting in the lower levels near the front of the ship. The large pointed front part of the ship lowered making a sort of gangplank. We walked down the gangplank, me, Zuko, and some other guards. There was a boy about 15 or 16 years old at the bottom of the gangplank. He charged at Zuko yelling, wielding a club. Zuko kicked the club to his left side, then the boy to his right and continued walking. The villagers gasped in fear as we approached. I cringed. I hated feeling like the bad guy.

Zuko walked up to this young girl, and this older woman who I assumed to be her grandmother. "Where are you hiding him?" He asked. No one answered him. He reached out and grabbed the old woman. I feared he was going to hurt someone if he didn't get his answer soon. "He'd be about this age. Master of all elements." He was getting agitated, I could tell from his voice. Still no one answered. Zuko shoved the old woman back to her granddaughter, and then sent out a wave of fire. This was getting serious. If someone didn't intervene this whole village would be a puddle soon. "I know you're hiding him." Then I heard a familiar yell. I turned around and saw the boy was up and again wielding the same club. He swung at Zuko but Zuko dodged and the boy flew over Zuko's back and into the snow. Zuko then launched fire at the boy but the boy rolled away and threw a boomerang at Zuko's head. Zuko moved his head and the boomerang flew past. Then a younger boy threw the first boy a spear and said. "Show no fear!" The boy caught the spear and charged at Zuko. Zuko broke the sharp end of the spear took the hilt and bonked the boy on the head a few times. After which he broke the hilt. Then the boomerang came back and hit Zuko in the back of the head. I suppressed a chuckle. That's when Zuko got really angry. He clenched his fists, and in each was a dagger of fire. Then suddenly a penguin came out of nowhere and knocked Zuko upside down, and then his helmet landed on his butt. I could help but chuckle this time. All the children of the village cheered. The penguin got the boy that was riding him off his back and said animal waddled away. "Hey Katara, hey Sokka." The boy said cheerfully. "Hey Aang. Thanks for coming." The boy with the boomerang said. _'So that's their names.' _I thought to myself. Zuko got up and signaled us to surround Aang. When we had him surrounded, he launched snow at us with three swings from his weird staff. "Looking for me?" He asked. _'Wait, what is he talking about. Unless…'_ "You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" Zuko asked as shocked as the rest of us.

I didn't pay much attention after that. I was lost in my thoughts. _'What? This boy can't be the Avatar. The Avatar is at least 100 years old! This boy doesn't look beyond 12 years old! He's lying! He has to be! Although the Avatar was an airbender and he was airbending. Maybe he is the Avatar.' _I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the cries of fear from the villagers. Aang made the fire dissipate and asked. "If I go with you, will you leave everyone alone?" Zuko dropped his stance and nodded. Two guards came up to him. One grabbed him by the shoulder another grabbed his staff. Katara ran forward and yelled. "Aang don't do this!" "Don't worry Katara it'll be O.K." He was pushed up the gangplank. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back." He said. I followed close behind the young Avatar. "Head a course to the Fire Nation!" Zuko yelled. "I'm going home." _'Not if I have anything to say about it' _I thought to myself. The gangplank rose and we removed the ship from the icy village.

After we were a little ways away from the village, Zuko started being an ignorant jerk. Scratch that, he never stopped. "This staff will make an excellent gift for my father." He said. "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks." _'O.K. That was low Zuko. Even for you.'_ I thought to myself, but I dare not voice my thoughts. "Take the Avatar to the prison hold." He instructed the two guards on either side of Aang. "And take this to my quarters." He handed his uncle Aang's staff. With that, Zuko marched away. "Hey you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" He asked a solider behind him, giving him the staff. I returned to my usual post. It was only a matter of time before Aang escaped. I stood up there for a total of 30 seconds before Aang came running up the stairs. He jumped and spun and did an airbending kick move to open the door. Then he saw me and did the same thing to me. I was pushed down and hit a wall. When I got up Aang was gone. Another guard came up and yelled up to a guard in the tower. "The Avatar has escaped!" I got up and followed Aang through the door. I finally found him outside Zuko's quarters. He airbent me to the side, again. This time with his staff. I saw him airbend the door to the bridge open and I decided to go out to the upper decks. After all if he was planning to escape there was only one other way outside.

When I got to the upper decks I saw Zuko grab Aang's leg and drag him down. They both crashed onto the deck. _'Uh-oh.'_ I thought _'I have to help him.' _I took off my helmet and threw it overboard. "Consider that my resignation Zuko!" I yelled at him. I took stance next to Aang. He looked at me funny but shook it off and took stance, Zuko took stance and boy did he look ticked. This looked like it was going to be an interesting battle. I heard a groan behind me. I turned around and saw some sort of flying buffalo. "What is that?" Zuko asked. "Appa!" Aang yelled excitedly. But his excitement was short lived. Zuko launched a jet of fire at Aang. Aang did a sort of windmill movement with his staff. But Zuko kept hammering him. I shot fire at him but he dodged and focused on Aang. Soon Zuko made Aang drop his staff a ways away and was resorted to dodging Zuko's attacks. At one point Aang had to jump up on the edge of the ship to doge one of Zuko's attacks. At that point, I knew it was all over. I saw Aang teetering and tottering and finally Zuko made his last strike and Aang went over. "Nooooo!" I yelled. I ran over to the side and looked over. "You're next, traitor." Now I was ticked. I swung around and launched a stream of fire at Zuko. It wasn't very powerful because I lost my breath control. But I kept at it. I suddenly heard a splashing sound as something rose to the surface. I looked behind me and saw Aang. He was in a cyclone of water and his tattoos and eyes were glowing. If there was any doubt in my mind before that that kid was the Avatar, it was gone now. He came toward the ship, landed, and formed a circle around himself with the water. Then he pushed the water outwards and knocked everyone down, including me. I was knocked out for a little while.

When I finally came to, I saw Katara getting on Appa, and Sokka's legs frozen in ice. As he was hacking away the ice, I heard him say. "I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic." They were going to leave and I had to go with them. I don't think my resignation went over too well with Zuko. I got up and walked over to them and they looked ready to attack me. I raised my hands in surrender. "Please, I mean you no harm. I'll explain myself but first we need to get out of here." Katara and Sokka looked at Aang and he nodded. "Alright but if you try anything funny, we can easily dump you the freezing ocean." Sokka said. I nodded and got on Appa. Appa started to fly off. We were almost away but Zuko wasn't done with us yet. Zuko and his Uncle had launched a giant fireball at us. I was about to freak out, but Aang had gotten up, opened the back end of his glider and swung, sending a wave of air towards the fireball, redirecting it into the ice next to the ship, causing an avalanche, which covered the ship in snow.

Once we were a fair distance away Sokka started questioning me. "Who are? Why are you here?" "I understand why you don't trust me. But let me explain. My name is Lee. You see, I am Fire Nation. That's no secret." I said pointing to my golden eyes. "But I don't agree with this war. This war has put me through so much. You see, my parents were open about their disagreeance with the war as well as my older brother. The Fire Lord obviously took notice in them. And... and he took them away from me. Let's just put it like that." I said trying to hold back tears as the memories resurfaced. I got sympathetic looks all around but I kept going. "I guess the Fire Lord thought that since I wasn't capable of making my own decision, I was only five at the time, he spared me. If you guys still don't trust me you guys can drop me off at the next town." "I like that plan." Said Sokka enthusiastically. "Sokka!" Katara yelled at him. "What? I don't trust this guy!" He exclaimed. "Sokka, Lee helped me fight Zuko." Aang said. "That could all have been an act. Did you see how he went easy on him? His entire sob story could be an act." "I did not go easy on him. I only know basic firebending. I hate my element that much. Fire only causes pain and destruction." I replied. "I don't know." Said Sokka. "At least give me a chance." I said. "If I do one thing to endanger Aang, you guys, or the mission, you can kick me off right then and there." "Alright. But the second you betray us we are coming after you." Sokka said conceding. I bowed my head. "Thank you. I won't betray you or the Avatar." "Speaking of the Avatar." Sokka said turning towards Aang. "Why didn't you tell us Aang?" Katara asked. Aang looked away as he answered. "Because…I never wanted to be."

Just then a dark cloud passed. Then rays of light broke through. "But Aang, The world's been waiting for the Avatar to return, and finally put an end to this war." I decided to throw my two cents in. "I've seen a lot of messed up things the Fire Nation has done, and you need to end this war soon." "And how am I going to do that?" Aang asked solemnly. According to legend, you need to first master water, earth, then fire right?" Katara asked remembering the old stories we all knew as a kid. "That's what the monks told me." Aang replied finally looking back at us. "Well if we go to the north pole you can master waterbending." "We can learn it together!" Aang replied enthusiastically. "And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way." Katara said to her brother. His reply was. "I'd like that. I'd really like that."

"I'm gonna guess Zuko isn't going to stop coming after us. He's been looking for Aang for three years, and I don't think he's going to stop just because he found out he's alive." I said "But I know him well enough to know his strategies, and his weaknesses." "Great so we're all in this together." Replied Katara. "Alright but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang said as he laid a map down in front of us. He pointed to several spots on the map. "Here, here, and here." "What's there?" Katara asked looking at the map. "Here we'll ride the hopping llamas." Aang responded pointing at one section of the map. "Then way over here we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back here we'll ride the hogmonkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun. "That sounds very serious." I said smiling. "We should probably head there as soon as possible." To be honest I needed a little fun. Being on that ship for three years, with that arrogant prince. You could say fun wasn't in that guys vocabulary.

5


	2. The Southern Air Temple

**Hello guys and gals welcome to another exciting chapter. I would like to thank the two people that reviewed. Oh and something I forgot to do last chapter. I don't own Avatar. I own my OC only. Now on with the show.**

* * *

It was early the next morning and we were packing up camp and getting ready for the day. Aang was making sure the rope used to steer Appa was tight, and talking to Katara and I. "Wait 'till you see it guys. The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world." I grimaced thinking of what the Fire Nation did. "Aang I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home." Katara said. "That's why I'm so excited!" Aang replied happily. "It's just that, a lot can change in all that time." "I know, but I need to see it for myself." Then he floated down to the ground to wake Sokka. "Wake up Sokka, Air Temple here we come!" Aang said excitedly to Sokka. "Sleep now, temple later." Was his response, as he rolled over in his sleeping bag. I couldn't help but chuckle. Aang stood there for a second, then he made a face like he had an idea. He then picked up a nearby branch, and moved it up and down Sokka's sleeping bag. "Sokka, wake up!" Aang yelled. "There's a Prickle Snake in you're sleeping bag. That caused Sokka to get up real quick. He jumped up screaming. "AH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" He hopped around in his sleeping bag until he tripped over a rock. After that we all burst out laughing. "Great, you're awake. Let's go." Sokka grumbled to him self and got out of his sleeping bag. Then he rolled it up and stored it in the back of Appa's saddle.

* * *

We were getting close when Sokka's stomach growled, as well as mine. Sokka grabbed his stomach and started talking to it. "Hey stomach, be quiet. Alright. I'm trying to find us some food." He grabbed his bag of-if I remember correctly-blubbered seal jerky. He reached in finding only crumbs. I reached into my bag of sizzle-crisps to find the same thing. "Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?" He asked lividly. Then he looked at me suspiciously. "Hey don't look at me, my sizzle-crisps are gone. And I know I had a full bag last night." "Oh, that was food. I used to it to start the campfire last night. Sorry." Aang said apologetically. "You what?" Sokka and I yelled at the same time. "No wonder the flames smelled so good." Sokka said sullenly. As we neared a few mountains Aang cried out. "There's the Patola Mountain Range! We're almost there." When he said that I remembered what I had learned from the Fire Nation history books, from school. The Southern Air Temple was one of the first places hit when the Fire Nation attacked. I felt a pang of guilt strike through me. Even though I had nothing to do with it, I can't help but feel guilty for what my nation did to Aang's people.

_'No, not my Nation,' _I thought to myself. _'Not anymore at least. From here on out, I have no ties to the Fire Nation.'  
_

I was snapped from my thoughts as we started ascending the face of a mountain range. Once we passed the peak I saw one of the most amazing sights ever. "There it is." Aang said, "The Southern Air Temple." We were all in awe. "Aang it's amazing!" Katara said. "We're home buddy, we're home." Aang said to Appa.

* * *

We had just landed and were now walking up the path to the temple. I couldn't stop thinking how the Fire Nation could do this to an entire people. Sokka on the other hand was thinking about his stomach. "So where do I get something to eat?" He asked holding his stomach. "You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an Air Bender temple, and all you can think about is food?" Katara said to her hungry brother. "Seriously Sokka I'm hungry to, but you don't hear me complaining." I said. At that time my stomach rumbled. "My stomach on the hand..." "I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." Sokka replied. We caught up to Aang who was standing on ledge over looking a field of poles. Aang pointed at it and said. "That's where my friend and I used to play air ball, and over there is where the bison would sleep." Then he sighed. "What's wrong?" Katara asked. "This place used to be full of monks, and lemurs, and bison. Now there just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much this place has changed." He replied sadly. I nudged Sokka with my elbow. "Ow. What?" Was his angry reply. "Cheer him up." I told him. "How?" he asked. "I don't know." I replied thinking for a second. "Play air ball with him." "Alright." Was his reply. "So this air ball game." Sokka said as he walked up to Aang. "How do you play?" After Aang explained that you need to bounce the ball through the poles and through the gate to score, Sokka climbed on top of a pole to try and stop the ball. Aang threw the ball in the air and then set a wave of air to start the ball off. The ball bounced off several poles and crashed into Sokka, sending him and the ball through the gate, and into a pile of snow. Aang and I laughed. "Aang seven, Sokka zero." Aang announced. Sokka groaned as he got up. "Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." He said in pain. "At least it's for a good cause." I said smiling. But Sokka didn't hear me, or maybe he was just ignoring me. He crawled towards an object and beckoned us over. "Guys check this out." We came over and I saw a familiar sight that sent a chill through my body. It was an old Fire Nation helmet.

"Fire Nation." Katara said plainly. "We should tell him." Sokka replied. "Aang there's something you need to see." Katara called out to him. "O.K." Was his reply. A few seconds later Sokka was covered in snow and Katara had her arms stretched out. "What is it?" Aang asked. "Uh.." Katara thought for a moment. "Just a new water bending move I learned." "Nice one. But enough practicing, we have a whole temple to see." Was his reply. "You can't protect him forever." Sokka said sadly. "We want to protect him too, but we can't protect him forever." I said. "I know... But I'll protect him for as long as I can." She replied. Then she followed Aang.

* * *

"Katara firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka said to his sister. "I can for Aang's sake." She replied. "If he finds out that the fire nation invaded his home he'll be devastated." I felt another pang of guilt run through me. I didn't have time to dwell on it though because Aang called us over. "I want you to meet someone." He said standing in front of a old wooden statue. "Who's that?" Sokka asked. "Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world." Aang replied. "He taught me everything I know." He closed his eyes and smiled, like he was having a fond memory. Katara walked up to him and said "You must miss him." "Yeah" He replied. Then he started walking away which puzzled all of us. "Where are you going?" Katara asked quizzically. " "The Air Temple Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet." Katara looked at Sokka, and I like we had some kind of information on Aang's odd behavior. But we just shrugged.

We had just reached what looked like the door to this Air Temple Sanctuary when Katara spoke. "Aang no one could have survived in there for a hundred years." " It's not impossible." He said optimistically. "I survived in the iceberg that long." "Good point." She conceded. I on the other hand was shocked. "Wait, you survived in the what now?" I said shock showing in my voice. "We didn't tell you?" Asked Katara asked surprised. "This is the first I'm hearing of it." I replied. "I was frozen in a block of ice somehow." He was hiding something I could tell, but I decided not to push it. "Yes and that is _perfectly_ normal." I said sarcasm dripping off my voice. "Well, considering he's the Avatar yeah pretty much." Sokka replied with equal sarcasm. I slitted my eyes and said lets just get this stupid door open." "Yeah you don't happen to have a key do you?" Sokka asked. "The key Sokka is airbending." After he said that he pushed air into these two holes, forcing three symbols to turn which then opened the door. All I saw was darkness beyond the door. "Hello?" Aang called out. "Anybody home?" He then walked into the room. Sokka, Katara, and I followed. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I noticed we were in a large room filled to the top with what looked like statues. We started walking through the statues and we saw that there were literally hundreds of them, maybe even thousands. We stopped in front of a statue of an airbender. "Who are all these people?" Katara asked. "I'm sure." Aang replied. "But it feels like I know them somehow. Look that ones an airbender!" "And this one's a waterbender! They're lined up in a pattern. Air, water, earth, and fire." "That's the Avatar cycle!" Aang exclaimed. "Of course." Katara said coming to a realization. "They're Avatars. All these people are your past lives Aang." "Wow! There are so many." Then he continued to follow the line of statues until stopped in front of the last one. Some of the statues looked familiar to me from my studies of the Avatar. But as we got to the last one in line, it was the most familiar. He had a long flowing Fire Nation robe, a long beard, and the Crown Prince head piece. That matched the description of only one Avatar. I stepped away and did the traditional Fire Nation bow, posing my hands in the traditional flame position. "What's up with you?" Sokka asked. "Sorry. Old habits die hard." I apologized. "Whatever." Was his reply. _'Guess I'm not as accepted as I thought.'_ Then we heard a noise and we hid behind some statues. There was a shadow that looked like a Fire Nation solider. _'This doesn't look good for me.' _Sokka shot me a dirty look and said. "Firebender. Nobody make a sound." "You're making a sound." Katara argued. Everyone shushed her. Sokka took out his club and said. "That firebender won't know what hit him." We all emerged and saw a cute little furry animal. "Lemur!" Aang shouted. "Dinner." Sokka said salivating at the sight of the furry animal no doubt thinking of all the different meals he could make. "At least it's not Fire nation." I said Thankfully. The creature just stood and stared. "Don't listen to him." Aang said. "You're going to be my new pet." "Not if I get him first!" Sokka yelled. They both lunged for the lemur, who ran away the two not far behind him. "This is not going to end well, I just know it." I said sighing.

* * *

Katara and I were looking at the statues when suddenly all of the statues eyes started to glow. "Well that can't be good." I said "C'mon lets go find Aang and Sokka!" Katara replied worry in her voice. We ran out of the Sanctuary. When we stepped out onto a balcony we saw a giant puff of smoke. "Found them." I said. She just ignored me and ran down the steps. I followed and soon we found Sokka holding onto a giant piece of the now demolished building, and Aang in a giant ball of wind with his eyes and tattoos glowing. "What happened?" Katara asked yelling over the wind Aang was causing. "He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!" Sokka yelled back. Yet another pang of guilt ran through me. "Oh no! It's his Avatar spirit! He must have triggered it! I'm going try to calm him down!" "Well do it! Before he blows us off the mountain!" He yelled back. At this point he was holding onto the piece of rubble with one hand, then that one hand slipped and he started to fly away towards the edge of the mountain. "WOAH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He yelled. "SOKKA!" Katara yelled. I lunged for Sokka holding onto the rubble with one hand, and grabbed his wrist with the other. "I gotcha buddy!" I said as I pulled him back. I looked at Katara and said. "Now go calm him down before someone really goes over the mountain!" She nodded and struggled to keep walking forward. Aang then rose in the sky and Katara fell on her back. Katara grabbed onto a closer piece of rubble and started yelling to Aang. "Aang I know you're upset! And I know how hard it is to lose the people you love! I went through the same thing when I lost my mom! Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders maybe gone! But you still have a family Sokka, Lee, and I! We're your family now!" That last part kind of shocked me. _'She considers me part of the_ _family?'_ After Katara was finished Aang started to calm down and slowly he descended to the ground. Then the wind died down and we approached him. "We aren't going to let anything happen to you. We promise." Sokka said. Then Katara grabbed his hand. His eyes and tattoos then returned to normal and he fell into Katara's arms looking sad. "I'm sorry" Aang apologized "It's okay. It wasn't your fault." Katara replied. "But you were right. And if firebenders found this temple, that means the found the other ones too. I really am the last airbender." He said sadly. Katara hugged him and both Sokka an I put a comforting hand on one of his shoulders.

* * *

We were back in the statue room after we had packed up. Katara and Aang were talking but I was paying more attention to my empty stomach than their conversation. "Man if I don't get something to eat soon I don't know what I'll do." I was hungry but not enough to eat a furry little animal for dinner unlike Sokka. At that moment the lemur from earlier came over to me and Sokka and gave us a big pile of fruit. "Thank you." I said to the creature. Sokka on the other hand had a piece of fruit in each hand biting into each of them. "Looks you guys made a new friend." Aang said. "Yes we did." I replied taking a bite of a peach. "Cant' talk must eat." Was Sokka's reply. The lemur climbed onto Aang's shoulders. "Hey little buddy." He said. Aang was looking at the temple one last time when Sokka came over to talk to me. "Hey, Lee... Look I uh I just wanted to say uh... *Cough* Thank you for saving my life." He mumbled that last part quickly. I smiled. "I'm sorry what did you?" I asked cupping a hand to my ear. "Thank you for saving my life." He mumbled again. My smile got bigger. "Could you speak up? I can't hea-" "THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE!" He yelled. I burst out laughing. After my laughter had died down I said. "It was no problem. You would done the same for me." After that Aang came over with the lemur on his arm and said. "Guys, I want you to meet the newest member of our family." "What are you going to name him?" Katara asked. At that moment the lemur jumped over to Sokka stole his peach he was about to bite into and ran back to Aang's arm. "Momo." Aang replied. The look on Sokka's face was priceless. We all burst out laughing. As we were flying away with the Southern Air Temple fading from view behind us I felt I needed to talk to Katara. "Hey, Katara. I needed to ask you something." "Yes, Lee. What is it?" She asked. "What you said to Aang. About me being part of your guy's family. Did you really mean it?" I asked somewhat afraid to find out the answer. "Of course." She replied. "I saw you save my brother. You can't be a monster like the others in the Fire Nation. No offense. " "None taken." I replied. "I've actually cut all my ties with the Fire Nation. In fact..." I pulled off the fabric that kept my top-knot up and my black hair fell into a shaggy mess. I let the piece of fabric drift away in the wind. "What was that." Katara asked. "That," I replied. "_was_ the fabric that held up my top-knot. What I just did has a symbolic purpose. You see every male in the Fire Nation had one. So getting rid of it, symbolizes my rejection of the Fire Nation." "Interesting." "Yeah. Well good talking to you Katara." "You too Lee."

* * *

** So what do you think? You like? Yes?, No?, Maybe?, Lobster? What? Nothing. Anyway... Favorite, alert, and review. Pleeeeeeeeeeease? It really keeps me going. Anyway until next time. Peace Off!**


	3. The Warriors of Kyoshi

**Hello guys and gals welcome to another exciting chapter. So I wanted to thank appa-appa-momo for reviewing my story and for becoming my first constant reviewer. So thank you. Oh and I wanted to apologize for the poor quality in spelling and grammar in the end. I finished it at like midnight maybe one in the morning. But anyway on with the show.  
**

* * *

We were on our way to this island where Aang and I could ride the elephant koi. I was planing on riding it because like I said earlier, I hadn't had real fun in three years. And even though I didn't like water, I was willing to try anything at least once. Right now I think we were lost. We were flying over a giant ocean and Sokka was trying to find out where we were on the map. "You have no idea were you're, going do you?" Sokka asked Aang. "Well, I know it's near water." Was his reply. I pretended to look around. "Hm. Well no water here." I said irritably. We had been flying for several hours and I was becoming irritable. Everyone ignored my comment and kept doing what they were doing. At this moment Aang was trying to impress Katara with an airbending trick. He made these marbles float and spin. "That's great, Aang." Katara said paying more attention to her sewing than to Aang's trick. "You didn't even look." He said. She looked over and said "That's great." "But not I'm doing it now." "Stop bugging her airhead." Sokka said. "You need to give girls space when they do their sewing." _'Oh no.'_ I knew where this was heading. "What does me being a girl have to do with sewing?" Katara said her voice gaining an edge. "Nothing at all!" I said trying to stop the argument before it happened. "What he meant to say was people." "No I meant girls." I facepalmed. Sokka was digging himself a hole. "Girls are better at fixing pants than guys, and guys are better at hunting, and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things. Katara gave Sokka a look and said. "All done with your pants, and look what a good job I did." She then threw the pants at Sokka, he then noticed the had a giant hole in them. "Wait I was just kidding! I can't where these! Katara please." Sokka yelled in despair. I sighed and shook my head and said. "I tried to stop you Sokka, but you didn't listen. You brought this on yourself." "Relax Sokka where we're going you don't need any pants." Aang then took us in for a landing.

* * *

We had just landed and Sokka was trying to deter Aang and I from our original course of action. "We just made a pit stop yesterday. Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out." "He's right." Katara agreed. "At this rate we won't reach the north pole until spring." At this point I decided to get in the conversation. "Look we can do this really easy. We relax and ride the elephant koi for like, five minutes tops, then we get on Appa and keep going." "Plus, Appa's tired already." Said Aang going along with my plan. "Aren't you boy." Appa gave a low groan in response. "I said _aren't_ you boy." This time Appa yawned. "Yeah that was real convincing." Sokka said sarcastically. "Still hard to argue with a ten ton magical monster." That's when we saw it. An elephant koi jumped out of the water. "That's why we're here. Elephant koi, and we're going to ride them." He said as he took off his shirt and pants revealing a small bathing suit. I took off my dark red and black shirt, and black pants and hopped in. Aang hopped in as well, but as soon as he did he screamed. "COOOOLLLDDD!" The cold didn't bother me seeing as I was a firebender. Aang and I swam out a ways then we dove underwater and we each grabbed a dorsal fin on a koi. The kois swam with the fin above the water. The next time my koi jumped I dove for the whiskers I grabbed both and stood on it's head. When I moved it's whiskers it turned just liked I hoped. It was harder to stand, but it was worth it. I made my koi dive under water and as it rose to the surface I made it jump 10 feet up in the air. I saw Katara and Sokka wave for us to come back so I ran to the tail just before it jumped so it would fling me to the shore. My plan didn't work as well as I thought it would. It flung me but it didn't fling me to shore. Instead it flung me 10 feet from the shore and I was surprised so I started to flail, and I did a belly flop, and man did it hurt. When I got above the water I saw what looked liked a giant fan sticking out of the water, and I saw Aang running on the water away from it. I decided to follow his example but I just swam as fast as I could. When I got to shore Aang ran into Sokka, and the fin returned to the water. I grabbed my pants and shirt and put them on. Then Katara came over and asked. "What was that thing?" "I don't know." Aang replied. "I guessing sea monster. That thing just gave me another reason to dislike water." I said. "Wait, you don't like water?" Katara asked. "Yeah." I replied. "Why?" Asked Aang. "Uh... Hello firebender." I said producing a small flame to prove my point. "Well whatever it was let's not stick around to find out. Time to hit the road" Then out of nowhere these figures jumped out of the trees. Everything happened so fast I'm not exactly sure what happened. But I do know every one got tied up and blindfolded, and I was the first one they got. "Or we could stay awhile." Sokka said.

* * *

The figures from before led us away from the beach and tied us up to some kind of pole. "You four have some explaining to do." I heard a male voice say. "And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back into the water with the Unagi." A female voice this time said. "Show yourselves cowards!" Sokka yelled. after that I felt my blindfold being ripped off and I was met with the sight of a bunch of girls in green-blue robes. "Who are you? Where are the men that ambushed us?" Sokka asked. _'Oh no'_ That was the second time I had that thought today. "Sokka, now's not the time for you to be sexist." I whispered to him. But he wasn't listening. "There were no men." Replied the girl. "We ambushed you. Now tell us. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" "Wait a second." Sokka replied. "There is no way a bunch of girls took us down." I sighed and shook my head. Sokka would never learn would he. "A bunch of girls huh. The Unagi is going to eat well tonight." She said as she grabbed the cuff of his parka. Then Katara intervened. "No, don't hurt him! He didn't mean it! My brother's just an idiot sometimes." "It's my fault." Aang confessed. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi." "But he's a firebender." The man from before said pointing at me. "How do we know _you're_ not Fire Nation spies. Kyoshi has stay out of the war so far and we intend to keep it that way." "This island is named for Kyoshi?" Aang asked perking up. "I know Kyoshi!" The man laughed. "Ha. How could you possibly know her. Avatar Kyoshi was born here 400 years ago. She's been dead for centuries." '_Time for the big revelation.'_ I thought. "I know her... Because I'm the Avatar." "That's impossible." The girl said. "The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." "That's me." Aang replied. "Throw the impostor to the Unagi." The man said. All of the girls took out two fans and approached us slowly. "Aang do some airbending." Katara whispered as the girls surrounded us. Aang launched himself in the air and cut his ropes on the statue above than slowly floated down to the ground. The villagers murmured in awe. "It's true." The man said. "You are the Avatar." "Now check this out!" Aang said as he did his trick from earlier. Everyone cheer, and one guy started foaming from the mouth. After they cut Katara's and Sokka's ropes the man from before said pointing at me. "Now, what should we do with him?" "We should throw him the Unagi." The girl said. "What is it with you people and this Unagi?" I asked. "Don't worry." Sokka said. "He's with us." "Are you sure you can trust him?" He asked Aang casting me a sidelong glance. "He won't cause any trouble." Aang responded. "Avatar promise." "Hmph" The man said. "Cut him lose." A girl came up to me and cut my ropes with her fan. "Thank you." I told her as I rubbed my wrists and arms. I just got a ,"Humph." In response. "_Well_." I said.

* * *

The next day people started to repaint the statue of Kyoshi and they served us an assortment of deserts. "Wow! Dessert for breakfast! These people really know how to treat an Avatar." Aang said with a full mouth. "Katara you got to try these." "Well maybe just a bite." She replied taking the food. "Sokka, Lee whats your problem eat." Aang said to us. "I'm not hungry." Sokka replied angrily. I however stated my problem. "_I_ am angry that these people don't trust me. I have done nothing wrong to them, yet they treat me like like I'm trash. And for what? Because I'm from the Fire Nation? A person should be judged by they're actions. Not by where they're from." I said angrily. "Maybe the world will be like that someday but right now everyone is afraid." Katara said trying to comfort me. It didn't work. "That's easy for you to say." I grumbled. "They don't give you sideways glances as you walk through the market. They don't cross the street when they see you coming." "That doesn't mean you should starve yourself." Aang said trying to reasonable. "You're right." I said as I got up. I grabbed a random dessert and started to walk out. "Where are you going?" Katara called after me. "I'm going for a walk!" I yelled back angrily. When I got to the street level I started to walk towards the woods. I needed to be alone. I looked around and saw the usual, people giving me sidelong glances from the other side of the street. I sighed and continued walking. Then I saw something unusual. I saw a man approaching me with an angry look on his face. "Can I help you?" I asked. "I know what you're up to!" He said pointing his finger in my face. I moved back and asked. "And that would be what, exactly?" "You're here to destroy our village! You may have fooled the Avatar and his friends, but you don't fool me!" A small crowd had gathered at this point and it looked like a fight might break out. "And I'm going to stop you!" The man charged at me and threw a punch at me. I dodged and backed up, he charged at me again and I dodged again. This time though the guy tripped over his own feet. A large part of me wanted to beat the crap out of this guy, wanted to take out my frustrations on this guy. But another part knew I couldn't do that, he was just confused and scared. Scared for his home. I had an inner conflict going on, between the part that wanted to beat this guy to a pulp, and the part that knew I couldn't. The latter won out, and I ran out of the crowd. As I ran I heard the man yell. "That's right, run you coward!" I kept running until I reached a particularly dense section of forest. I sat down as I caught my breath. I sighed and to myself. "Great. I'm probably going to get talked to when I get back." I heard a rustling in the tree and immediately got up and into stance. I saw some jump from the tree. It was the girl from yesterday who cut my ropes. "What do _you_ want?" I asked as I dropped my stance. "I... I wanted to thank you for not hurting my father." "You mean that guy who tried to pick a fight with me?" I asked. "Yeah. That's Dad. My dad is a little cautious with people from the Fire Nation. Well everyone is but he has another reason. Fire Benders killed my mother." She said sadly. "That's one thing we have in common." I replied. That shocked her. "What do you mean?" She asked. "My family didn't like the war, so the Firelord had them killed. They killed my mother, father, and my older brother." I responded "So you hate them just as much as everyone else." She said as she came to the realization. "Yes." Was my simple reply. We stood in silence for a few moments before she broke it. "I want to apologize for the way I treated you yesterday." She apologized. "It fine." I replied. "I just wish everyone had your attitude. Everyone has avoided me as much as possible just because of where I'm from. They don't even know my name." "What is your name?" She asked. "Lee." I responded then realizing I didn't know her name I asked. "What's yours?" "Miyuki." She replied smiling. "Nice to meet you Miyuki." I smiled. "Likewise." She replied. "I'd like to talk some more, but I'm probably going to be yelled at by Mr. Feed them to the Unagi." She giggled and said. "You mean Oyaji. He's the leader of the island." I shrugged. "Either way I'm getting yelled at." "I can vouch for you." Miyuki said. "I saw the whole thing." "You'd do that?" I asked. "Yeah." She replied. "What are friends for?" That sentence caught me off guard. We'd only just met and she already consider me her friend. "Alright then, let's go." We walked out of the wood and into town. This time they gave me not just a look of distrust, but also a look of surprise. Seeing anybody walking with me that wasn't Aang, Katara, or Sokka was probably weird for them. We kept walking until we saw Miyuki's dad talking to Oyaji. s we got closer we heard a portion of the conversation. "... Then he attacked me. But I was too fast for him, and I beat him up so bad he ran into the forest." Oyaji looked at me and asked. "Is that true?" "No sir." I replied. "I was just walking down the street, when this man came up to me and picked a fight with me. I didn't want to hurt him so I ran into the forest. But I didn't lay a hand on him." "He's lying!" The man yelled. "No he's not." Miyuki said, which surprised her father. "I saw the the entire thing Lee's telling the truth. " That got her father really angry. "You're siding with him!" He yelled angrily. "Over your own blood!" "Dad he hasn't done anything wrong!" She yelled. "Don't you remember what firebenders did to your mother!" He yelled back. "Yes, and the firebenders who did that should pay. But he had nothing to do with that!" "Miyuki, he's a Fire Nation spy why else would he be here!" "Because he hates the Fire Nation too." She said. "What are you ta-" "Fire benders killed his entire family." Miyuki said. "On the orders of the Firelord. They killed his father, his mother, and his older brother. Just because they didn't like the war. Everyone on this island has treated him different, just because he's from the Fire Nation. They don't care that he hasn't done anything wrong, and we need to stop." "Maybe... Maybe you're right." He said to Miyuki. He turned to me and said. "I am sorry for what to did. I was just afraid you were here to destroy us." I took a deep breath and said. "Apology accepted." I extended my hand for a handshake. He looked at it for a moment, then he grasped it and shook. "I would done the same thing in your position." He nodded and smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me I should probably get back to my friends." I said then turned to Miyuki and said. "Thank you for your help." "Like I said, what are friends for?" "Still thank you." I smiled and headed for where we were staying.

* * *

When I got to the room I saw Katara sitting on the floor, bending a bowl of water. "Hey, Lee how was your walk?" She asked. I smiled and said. "Mostly, it was good." She stopped bending, looked at me and asked. "What do you mean mostly?" I then recounted the of that afternoon. After I finished all Katara said was. "Wow." "Yep." I replied. "So, where's Aang, and Sokka?" Katara returned to her bending as she answered. "Sokka went to talk to the Kyoshi Warriors." "That isn't going to end well." I said. "And Aang." She said her voice gaining and edge again. At that moment Aang came through the door. "Katara, remember how the Unagi almost got me yesterday?" Aang asked. "Yeah." She replied. "Well I'm going to go ride it now." _'What!'_ I screamed in my mind. "It's going to be real dangerous." He continued. "Good for you." She replied flatly. "Your not going to stop me?" Aang asked surprised. "Nope. Have fun." Katara replied. "I will." "Great." "I know it's great." "Well I'm glad you know." "Well I'm glad you're glad." "Good!" "Fine!" After Aang walked out I asked. "Ok. What the heck just happened!" "I'm mad at Aang because he let this hole Avatar thing go to his head, and now he's become a jerk." "Well shouldn't we make sure he's alright." "You're right." After that we walked to the bay to prevent Aang from being dinner for the Unagi.

* * *

When we got to the bay the girls were leaving and Aang was in the water. "Katara! You showed up!" Aang yelled. "I wanted to make sure you were safe." She yelled back. "You really had me worried." "But back there you acted like you didn't care." Aang replied. "I know, I'm sorry." Katara apologized. "Me too." Aang responded. "I did let all that attention go to my head. I was being a jerk." "Well get out of the water before you catch a cold you big jerk!" Katara yelled. Aang gave a big smile started swimming towards shore. The the giant fin from earlier returned. But this time it rose out of the water but with Aang on top of it. Then it sprayed a powerful blast of water at Aang, he had to hang onto a spike on it's back to withstand it. Then it tried to take bite out of Aang, but then Aang jumped and grabbed onto one of it's whiskers. It then shook it's head trying to get some kind of angle to grab Aang in it's mouth. "Hang on Aang!" Katara yelled. Then the Unagi shook it's head so hard Aang let go. He land in around the same spot that I did earlier. When he came to the surface he was unconscious and his tongue was sticking out. "Aang!" Katara yelled. She ran into the water towards Aang. But the Unagi was after Aang too, and I couldn't do anything while it was underwater. When Katara got to Aang so did the Unagi. Katara used her waterbending to push her back just as the Unagi went to bite them, which only caused a missive wave to wash them to shore. That's when I saw it. The place where I had been living for the past three years. Zuko's ship. "Oh no!" I said to myself. "I have to warn the village!" I ran all the way from the bay to the village. When I got there I saw people trying to avoid me like usual. So I yelled. "Everyone listen!" They all stopped and stared at me. "Zuko, a prince from the Fire Nation is coming!" Everyone gasped. "So you are a Fire Nation spy!" Someone from the crowd yelled. "No!" I yelled back. "Zuko doesn't want Kyoshi! He just wants Aang!" "Why should we believe you!" Someone else shouted. "Yeah! Let's throw him to Unagi!" Another voice yelled. "Yeah!" The crowd yelled all together. They all started to approach me slowly until a figure landed in front of me. It was Miyuki. "Enough!" She yelled. The people stopped their approach. "What are you doing Miyuki?" Someone yelled. "Yeah get out of the way!" Another yelled. "No." She said firmly. "He has done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment. What has he, him personally done to deserve this?" No one could say anything. "That's what I thought. So listen to what he has to say." "Thanks Miyuki." I said smiling. "No problem." She replied. I turned my attention to the crowd. "Alright, if Zuko is coming we'll need the Kyoshi Warriors." I said. "I'll go get them." Oyaji said. "Great, now if I know Zuko as well as I think I do, he'll come on komodo rhinos. They though, unless you know how to handle them. I'll instruct the Warriors on that when they get here. Next we're gonna need water. Zuko will do anything to get Aang, even if it means sacrificing some of his own. So he'll have no problem torching a village of innocents. Is there a water source of water near by? Besides the bay." "There's a pond near by." "Good, form a line and fill as many buckets as you can find. Next I recommend evacuating all the children, elderly, and sick to somewhere safe." "Done." Said Oyaji who had returned with the Kyoshi Warriors plus Sokka. "Nice robe Sokka. Anyway komodo rhinos all have one weakness a sensitive backside. So here's the plan, we'll set some rope or chain near the entrance of the village when the rhinos come we tie the rope to the leg of each rhino. Then the other warriors will hit them on the weak point. If we time this right all the rhinos should charge all at once leaving the riders for us. Any questions?" No one said anything. "Good, find some strong rope. Anything you can find, tie some together if you have to." Then a villager came up to me and said "We filled all the buckets." "How many?" I asked. "64." He replied. "Excellent. Tell every able bodied man and woman to bring the buckets to Town hall." He nodded and ran off. I went to Town hall and stood at a podium in front and waited for everyone to arrive. That only took a full minute. "All right everyone this is going to be tricky. But as soon as you see a fire you run to put it out. Don't worry someone will protect you as you go to put out. Now this guy wants one thing, and one thing only. The Avatar, and he'll do anything to get him. If that means destroying your home he'll do it. Now are we going to let that happen!" I shouted. I got a loud, "No!" in response. "Alright lets go out there and save your home!" I got a loud roar of approval as I walked out of Town Hall. I went to go check on the Warriors progress with the rope. "How's it going?" I asked Suki the leader. "We tied all the rope together and it's about two meters long. Is that good enough?" She asked. "That should be good enough." I replied. "We're going to need some Warriors on the top of some buildings to hit the weak point." I said. "I'll put my best Warriors on it." She responded. I nodded and went around one more time to make sure everything was ready. Everything was, the people were evacuated, the fire fighters were ready, the warriors were in place. Now all that was missing was one arrogant prince. I got in place with the girls and waited. We didn't have to wait long. Soon I heard the voice that commanded me only a week before. "Come out Avatar! You can't hide from me forever!" I gave the signal and everything went according to plan. The girls moved fast and accurately. When one foot of every rhino was tied, the girls on the roof jumped down and hit the weak point cause the rhinos to run and the riders to fall off. When Zuko fell three girls surrounded him. He spun around in a circle and shot fire from his feet causing fires to start. Just like I told them people started to put out fires. But the fire was spreading too quickly and I feared we wouldn't have enough to put out all the fires. He turned to me and said. "These little girls can't save you or the Avatar, traitor." "Hey, over here!" Aang yelled. "Finally." Zuko said. Then he launched two fireballs at him. The first one Aang dodged, the second he hit away with his staff the he levitated using his staff like a windmill upwards. While Aang was floating I formed a fire whip in my hand and snapped it at Zuko. It hit him in the shoulder and he grunted in pain. He turned and launched a fireball at me and returned his focus to Aang who had just landed in front of him. I kicked away the fireball easily. At this point Zuko was inside a busted house and Aang was flying overhead surveying the damage I looked around to. It wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was still pretty bad. Some of the houses were fine untouched by the flames, but most were just a pile of smoldering wood, and the statue of Kyoshi was on fire. I saw Aang talking to Katara, so I ran over there to see what was up. "So what's the plan?" I asked. "We're leaving." Katara said sadly. "What! We can't leave!" "If we stay Zuko will destroy the entire town. If we leave Zuko will follow us." Katara responded. I grumbled. She was right. No matter how much I hated it we had to leave. "Alright, just... Just give me second." I said. "Just hurry." I ran behind the house and saw Miyuki a little ways down. I ran over to her. "What are you doing?" She asked. "We're leaving, I came to say goodbye." I replied. "There's no time for goodbyes." "How about thanks?" I asked. "For what?" She asked in return. "For everything, for trusting me, for standing up for me, and for being my friend." "I should be thanking you. If it wasn't for your plan the entire village may have been torched." I smiled. "Maybe we'll see each other again someday." "I'd like that." She replied. Then she kissed me on the cheek and said with a smile. "Now go we'll cover you." Then she ran to the front of the house and took out two guards. I shook my head and ran to Appa and we took off. Katara was talking to Aang about something but all I could think about was what had happened only minutes before. _'She likes me? Do I like her? I...I guess I do.'_ I had never had these feelings before. I went to sea with Zuko when I was 13 so I haven't had much girl expirence. Aang climbed up to the saddle from nowhere and said. "I know, I know that was stupid and dangerous." "Yes it was." Katara said the she hugged him. Then I said confused. "What just happened!" "I'll tell you later." Sokka replied. And with that we rode off into the sunset.

* * *

**Yay. 5,001 words this chapter! Is that great or is that great? Anyway did you guys like the chapter? How about the potential love interest? Huh. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Anyway I have two small challenges for you readers. One is to find the reference I made. Whoever guesses it first gets to read my next chapter before anyone else. The second is to review, favorite and alert this story... Pleasssssseeeeee! Anyway until next time. Peace off!**


	4. The King of Omashu

**Hello guys and gals welcome to another exciting chapter. So sadly no one won the contest but it's ok I decided to post the chapter anyway. I will now give you the answer of my contest. The answer was Minecraft. 64 buckets of water. Like in Minecraft anyways on with the story.  
**

* * *

A week had passed since the events on Kyoshi Island and we were now headed to Omashu, a city in the Earth Kingdom where Aang visited often before the iceberg. "Are we there yet?" I asked. "We're almost there, Lee." Aang responded. "Wait until see it. The city is big, and amazing!" "Great." I replied. All I could focus on was my aching feet. We'd been walking for half an hour and I don't think I could have walked another half hour. "Tell me again. Why couldn't we have flown Appa?" I asked already knowing the answer. "Do you want the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked? "No, I just don't like walking for long distances." I replied flatly. "It doesn't matter anyway we're here!" Aang exclaimed. "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!" Once I saw the city I immediately forgot about my feet. "Wow." Was all I could say. "I'll say." Katara responded. "We don't have cities like this in the south pole." "They have buildings here that don't melt." Agreed her brother. "Well come on slowpokes the real fun is inside of city." Aang said happily as he started to run down the hill. That's when I noticed how much distance was between us and the city gates. _'Great more walking.'_ I thought to myself. "Aang it could be be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar." Katara said. "She right." Agreed Sokka. "You need a disguise." "What am I supposed to? Grow a mustache?" Aang asked sarcastically. "Some hair couldn't hurt either." I said as I held some of Appa's fur. Katara and Sokka understood what I was getting at and got to work. Minutes later Aang had a mustache and a full head of hair. "This is so itchy!" Aang complained. "How do you live in this stuff?" He asked Appa, who grunted in reply. "Great, now you look just like my grandfather." Sokka said. "Technically he is 112 years old." Katara responded. Aang spun his staff around, then hunched over and leaned on it. "Now let's get to skipping, young whippersnappers." He said in an old man voice. "The big city awaits." He then started hobbling away using his staff as a walking stick.

* * *

After a ways of walking we were approaching the city gates and Aang was telling us how friendly the people of Omashu were. I believed him. Until I saw a guard earthbend a cart of cabbages off the cliff. The cabbage merchant yelled. "My cabbages!" I felt bad for the poor guy. "They seem very friendly, Aang." I said sarcastically. "Just keep smiling." He replied. As we approached the gate the bender from before earthbended a rock over Aang's head and said gruffly. "State your business." Aang ran forward and started poking the guy in the chest and said in his old man voice. "My business, is my business young man, and none of yours. I have half a mind to bend ya over my knee and paddle your backside!" Katara and Sokka looked horrified but i was quiet amused at the situation. But the best part was that the guard actually believed it. "Settle down old timer. Just tell me who you are." He said. "The name's Bonzu Pipenpaddlopsecopulis the third." I almost facepalmed at that. "And these are my grandkids." "Bonzu" Pointed to Katara, Sokka, and I. "Hi." Katara said as she stepped forward. "June Pipenpaddlopsecopulis, nice to meet you." The guard gave her a once over and said. "You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu. Then the gates were opened. Before we stepped through though the guard stopped us. "Wait a minute." He said putting a hand on my shoulder. I was afraid they had discovered I was Fire Nation. "You're a strong young boy." he said. Show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag." I let out an inward sigh of relief. "Good idea." Aang said as he threw me his bag. Then we entered the city. We looked around and Aang told us about Omashu's mail delivery system. Then he told us about what his friend Bumi had thought of using the mail delivery system as a super slide. Then Aang asked us to ride it with him. "I'll do it but I think we should stop at a clothing shop on the way." I said. "Why?" Sokka asked. "Hm. I don't maybe it's because I'm wearing Fire Nation clothes in an Earth Kingdom city." I said whispering the last part. "The guard didn't notice." Sokka argued. "If you didn't notice that guy wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer." "Lee's right Sokka. We have to be careful. If that means he needs to get a new outfit then that's what needs to happen." Sokka grumbled and we started walking for the nearest shop. I found a pair of olive pants and a lime green shirt with the Earth Kingdom insignias stitched onto the arms. After I paid we went to the start of one mail chutes and got in a large cart. "One ride then we're off to the north pole. Airbender's honor." Aang said. "This sounded like fun at first." Katara said fear evident in her voice. "But now that I'm here I'm starting to have second thoughts." "Don't be a weenieeeee!" I yelled as we started our descent. Now, I could attempt to give you every single detail of our ride. But A) that would become to confusing and B) it would take to long. So instead I'll give you the highlights. Basically we had to go off the main chute, onto and through houses and shops. We destroyed a lot property during those times, and ride ended with the cart landing on the cabbage merchant's cart. "My cabbages!" The first time I felt bad for the guy the second time was just funny. "You're going to pay for this!" He yelled at us. "Two cabbages, please." Aang said his hair and mustache were now gone.

* * *

We were brought to the king for our punishment. One of the guards listed off the charges. "Your majesty, these juveniles are arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages." _'They have a specific law for cabbages?'_ I thought. "Off with their heads!" Screamed the Cabbage merchant. "One for every head of cabbage." "Silence!" The guard yelled. "Only the king can pass down judgment. What is you judgment sire?" "Throw them..." He paused for what I thought was dramatic effect. "A feast." He said happily. The cabbage merchant groaned in annoyance, and I'm pretty sure everyone let out a sigh of relief. Minutes later we were sat down to a large table filled with all types of food. "The people in my city have gotten fat from to many feasts." He said to Aang. "So I hope you like your chicken with no skin." "Thanks but I don't eat meat." "How about you?" He asked Sokka. "I bet you like meat." He couldn't have been more right. "Is it just me or is this guys crown a little crooked?" Katara asked sarcastically. The king then sat down in his chair. "Tell me bald one." He said to Aang. "Where are you from?" "Uh, I'm from Kangaroo Island." "Kangaroo Island hm. I here that place is really hopping. I laughed hard. I'm a sucker for a bad joke like that. Everyone looked at me. "What? It was funny." I said. i then turned to the king and said. "I want to apologize for the mail delivery system as a slide. Although you could say we went postal." This time both Sokka and the king laughed. "If there's one thing I love more than a feast it's a good joke." The king said. He then yawned. "All these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's times time to hit the hay." He then threw a chicken leg at Aang. Aang then used his airbending to catch it. The guards gasped. "There's an airbender in our presence, and not just any airbender, the Avatar." One thought went through my head the moment he said that. _'Crap.'_ "Now what do you have to say for yourself ?" Asked the king sarcastically. "O.K. you caught me. I'm the Avatar, doing my Avatar thing. Keeping the world safe." Aang said. He then lifted the table cloth to look under the table. "No evil firebender here he said as he looked at me. "So good work everybody." He then put his arms around us and started to walk backwards. "Love each other, respect all life, and don't run with your spears." "Or anything sharp for that matter." We were almost out the door when the guards blocked our only way out. "You can't keep us here." Katara said. "Let us leave!" "Lettuce leaf?" He asked as he picked up a piece of lettuce and ate it. I almost facepalmed. "We're in serious trouble." Sokka whispered to us. "This guy is nuts." "Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges." The king said. "But for now the guards will show you to your chamber." "My liege do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?" One guard asked. I hoped it wasn't the bad chamber. "The newly refurbished chamber." The king replied. "Wait which one are we talking about?" The guard asked. "The one that used to be the bad chamber." The king replied. "Until the recent refurbishing that is. Of course we've been calling it the new chamber. We should just number them." _'This entire city is nuts.'_ I thought. "Take them to refurbished chamber that was once bad." He order the guards.

* * *

We were taken to our chamber, and let me just tell you. It was pretty nice for a prison cell. We tried to escape but the only other way out was the air vent. We tried to get Momo to go through the air vent to go get Appa. But even Momo was too big to fit, I blamed the feast. "How would Appa have helped anyway." Sokka said lounging on the bed. "Appa is a 10 ton flying bison." Aang responded. "I'm sure he could have figured something out." "Well no point in arguing about it now." Katara said being the voice of reason again. "Get some rest Aang. Looks like you'll need it for tomorrow." Late into the night guards came and took Katara, Sokka, and I to the king. We were supposed to be the prize if Aang completed his challenges. We were being held behind a secret door. We were able to here the entire conversation. Aang refused to do the challenges then the wall in front of us was bended away. Guards then put a ring on each of our fingers. "Those rings are made of pure jennamite. Also know as creeping crystal." The challenges Aang had to do were ridiculous tasks for the king. For the first challenge he Aang had to get a key for the king, that was in the middle of a waterfall. First Aang tried to climb a ladder to get to the key. When that failed he tried to dive head first into the waterfall. Finally he broke stalagmite and threw it through the chain of the key. The next challenge was that Aang had to find the kings pet, Flopsie. Aang saw a lop-eared rabbit which we all thought was Flopsie. But then just before he grabbed the rabbit, a goat gorilla jumped down and started chasing Aang, who was chasing the rabbit. Eventually the rabbit ran into a hole in the wall. Aang suddenly realized that the goat gorilla was Flopsie. The final challenge was a duel and by this time Sokka, Katara, and I were almost fully encased in the jennamite. Aang's final challenge was a duel and he had a chance to pick who he dueled. He had two obvious choices. A guy with a spear with a curved end wit three claw like scars on his face, and a large muscular guy with a huge axe. "So you're saying, whoever I point to that's the person I get to fight?" Aang asked. "Chose wisely." The king responded. Aang looked from one person to the next saying. "I... choose... you." He pointed at the king. _'Why didn't I think of that?' _I thought to myself. The king was a good choice. He looked like he was a hundred years old. The king then chuckled and said. "Wrong choice!" With that I heard the sound of bones cracking. The king was straitening up. He then took off his robe and we found that the king was in fact not a frail old man like we all originally thought. He had bulging muscles and abs. Aang looked horrified. Then the king earthbent Aang into the arena below. Then he jumped in after him. "You thought I was a frail old man." Said the king. "But I'm the most powerful earthbender you'll ever see." "Can I fight the guy guy with the axe instead?" Aang asked as he pointed to the balcony where he was once standing. "There are no take backseies in my kingdom." The king replied. "You might need this." Then a guard threw Aang his staff. Then the king launched several boulders at Aang, all of which he avoided. "Typical airbender tactic," The king said. "Avoid and evade. I'd hope The Avatar would be a little less predictable." He then launched another boulder at Aang. He jumped over it and used his staff to hover in the air. "Don't you have any surprises for me?" Asked the King mockingly. "Sooner or later you'll have to strike back." He than launched a bolder at the ceiling which then fell on Aang. I winced. _'Aang is getting his butt kicked out there.' _I thought. _'He better think of something or else he's not gonna make it.' _Then Aang started running at the king but he kept putting rocks in Aang's way and eventually he got caught on one of the rocks. Aang jumped off the rock and used his airball move to fly towards the king. When he got close he set a wave of air at the king. He brought up a wall of rock to protect himself and said. "Did someone leave the windows open? It feels a little drafty in here. Are you hoping I'll catch a cold?" I couldn't help but chuckle. Even though he was mocking Aang, it was still kind of funny. The king the pushed the wall down which caused a wave of rock to roll towards Aang. He tried to jump over it, but it was too tall and he ended up getting knocked back. Then the king used a move I believed was called earth line. The rocks raced towards Aang. He jumped back and pushed off the wall to land near his staff. He grabbed his staff and at this point he was about 50 feet away from the king. "How are you going to get me from way over there?" Aang then charged at the king and the king turned the floor that Aang was standing on into quicksand, effectively trapping Aang. Then the king sent two rocks towards Aang to crush. Then just after the rocks crashed together Aang jumped out from behind them and sent a powerful wave of air at the king that knocked him back to the wall. The king sent a boulder at Aang. He jumped over the boulder and it continued to sail towards the king. Just as the rock was about to hit the king he destroyed it. The king then picked up the viewing box next to us with earthbending. Aang scream and started running around in a circle. _'What is he doing?!' _I thought to myself. Then a tornado formed and that's when I understood. The king threw the viewing box at Aang and it went around the tornado and back towards the king. The king then split it in two and Aang came from nowhere and pointed his staff at the king. The king raised his hands in what looked like surrender, but really he had brought a rock over his head. He then threw the rock away and literally fell into the ground. He appeared back where Sokka Katara and I were standing. Aang followed soon after. "You have passed all my tests," The king started. "Now you must answer one question." "That's not not fair!" Aang yelled. "You said you'd release my friends if I finished your tests!" "Aw. But whats the point of a test, if you don't learn anything." The king replied. "Oh come on!" Sokka complained. "Answer this one question and I'll set your friends free. What is my name?" The king asked. Aang looked completely confused. "From the looks of your friends you've only got a few minutes." He then walked away. "How am I supposed to know his name." "Think about the challenges." Katara said. "Maybe it's some kind of riddle." "I got it!" Sokka exclaimed. "Yeah?" Aang asked "He's an earthbender right? Rocky." I would facepalmed and then hit Sokka upside the head if my entire body wasn't encased in jennamite. "Really?" I asked. "We're going to keep trying, but that is a good back up." "Ok so back to the challenges. I got a key from the waterfall, I saved his pet and I had a duel." Aang said. "And what did you learn?" Katara asked. "Well every thing than I expected."Aang said. "And..." Katara said anxiously as her crystal grew even more. "Well they weren't straight forward." Aang responded. "To solve each test I had to think different than how I usually did. I know his name."

* * *

We walked to the throne room to give the king the answer the crystal growing all the while. When we got there the king was dress back in his usual attire. "I answered the question the same way I solved the challenges." Aang said to the king. "As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities." Then the king Bumi as we now knew him as cackled. "Bumi, your a mad genius." Aang continued. He then ran and hugged his old friend. "It's good to see you." Bumi said. "You haven't changed a bit, literally." "Over here." "A little help?" "No rush or anything." We all said worried, as we were now almost completely encased in the crystal. With one motion Bumi broke the crystal. I stood there for a second and started scratching my arm. "Thank you." I started. "I've had an itch on my arm all day." Bumi grabbed a piece of the jennamite and took a bite out of it. "Jennamite is made of rock candy, delicious." "Sweet." I said. I grabbed my bag where my sizzle-crisps used to reside and filled it up. "So this crazy king, is your old friend Bumi?" Katara asked. "Who are you calling old." Bumi asked. For a moment we were silent then he said. "Ok I'm old." "Why did you do all this, instead of telling Aang who you were?" "First of all it's pretty fun messing with people." Bumi replied snorting with laughter. "But I do have a reason." He turned to Aang. "Aang you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements, and confront the Fire Lord, and when you do, I hope you'll think like a mad genius." Aang smiled and bowed. "And it looks like you're in good hands." Bumi continued. "You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation." Then Momo jumped on Aang's shoulder. "And you'll need Momo too." "Than you for your wisdom." Aang replied. "But before we leave I have a challenge for you." Then Aang explained how he wanted Bumi to ride the mail chute with him the next day. After Bumi agree I said. "Count me in! That last time was fun as heck!" "Well it's getting late we should probably get to bed." Katara said. "Just a moment." Bumi said. "I would like to speak with your friend Lee for a moment." Everyone stood there. "In private, please." Bumi continued. "I'll be there in a minute." They all nodded and left. After they left the king sat in his throne and asked me. "So Lee, tell me. How is the weather in the Fire Nation this time of year?" I stood there completely frozen. "Y-you know?" Was all I could get out. "I am old boy, not blind." He responded. "I have seen many firebenders in my time, and I'll probably see many more." I gulped. "You're uh not going to turn me in are you?" I asked nervously. "Aang seems to trust you, and if he trusts you I trust you." Was his response. I sighed in relief. But Bumi wasn't finished yet. "Not only do I know that you're a firebender. I know exactly who you are." "You mean..." I replied. "Yes. But like I said before you seem trustworthy." "You aren't going to tell them, are you?" I asked nervously. "No." I let out another sigh of relief. "But I suggest that you tell them. This is something they need to know." "I know." I replied. "I will tell them eventually. When I'm ready." The king nodded in response. "Well it's getting late. You should probably go hit the hay." I nodded and left. When I got back to the room everyone was still up waiting for me. "Hey guy." I said as I entered. "Hey Lee. What did Bumi want." I decided to go with a half lie instead of the whole truth. "He just wanted me to know, that he knew I was a firebender." "He knew?" Katara asked somewhat shocked. "Yeah, but h e said that since Aang trusted me then he trusted me. We should probably get to bed guys." I said trying to change the subject. "That's all I need to hear." Sokka said before turning in his bed and started snoring loudly. "Well goodnight guys." Katara said. We all replied with our own goodnights and went to bed. But I didn't sleep I tried to think of when to tell everybody my secret. After awhile I sighed rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

**Well I think that was a good ending to this chapter. So now Lee has a secret. What is it, when it be revealed, why am I asking you questions I already know the answers to? So anywho please review follow or favorite this story. And I'll see you when I write the next chapter. PEACE OFF.**


	5. Imprisoned

**Hello guys and gals welcome to another exciting chapter. Not much to say so on with the story.  
**

* * *

It had been a few days since the affair with Bumi and I was thinking about what he told me. He said he knew my secret. I knew I had to tell the others but I didn't know how to tell them and and how they would react. My stomach grumbling brought me out of my thoughts. "When is Sokka getting back with the food? I'm starving." I said. As soon as those word left my mouth Sokka popped his head above the little hill we were sitting on. Aang jumped over to where Sokka was sitting. "Great your back. What's for dinner?" Aang asked. "We have a few options." Sokka responded digging into his sack.

"First, round nuts, then some oval shaped nuts, and rock shaped nuts, that may just be rocks." He threw one the rock "nuts" over his shoulder. "Dig in." Sokka said smiling. "Seriously, what else you got?" Katara asked. I nodded, "Yeah Sokka. No offense but nuts aren't going to feed four people, a lemur-bat, and a 10 ton bison." I said. Sokka just looked in the bag to see if there was anything else. Suddenly there was a large booming sound. "What was that?! Sokka asked in a shrill voice. A few seconds later there was a second booming sound. "It's coming from over there!" Aang yelled.

We started running towards the sound when Sokka yelled. "Shouldn't we be running away from huge booms not towards them!" I turned around and started running backwards and yelled. "You afraid of a little noise, Sokka?" He grumbled and start running after us. I laughed and turned around and continued running. When we reached the source of the noise, we saw a boy about 16 or 17 earthbending boulders into the side of the valley. "An earthbender!" Katara whispered surprised. "Let's go meet him!" Aang said enthusiastically. "He looks dangerous so we better approach carefully." Sokka said. "Hello there! I'm Katara what's your name?" I nearly face palmed.

The boy suddenly dropped the bolder he was bending and he looked nervous. I thought it was because I looked like Fire Nation, but looking down I realized it couldn't be me he was worried about. I was still still in my Earth Kingdom clothes. The boy ran and caused a rock slide behind him to prevent us from following him. "Nice to meet you!" Aang yelled. "I just wanted to say hi." Katara said. "Hey that guys got to be running somewhere." Aang noticed. "Maybe we're near a village, and I bet that village has a market." "Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara exclaimed making the connection. They stared running off when Sokka yelled. "Hey, I worked hard to get those nuts!" "Then you enjoy them!" I yelled back. "Yeah I hate 'em too." Sokka deadpanned.

* * *

We reached a hill that over looked the village below. I saw the village and I immediately got bad feeling in my gut. "I need to get back to Appa guys." I said. "Why?" Aang asked. But I was already running back to Appa. "I'll tell you when I get back." I yelled back. When I got to Appa I pet the bison on the head, the climbed into the his saddle. I opened my bag and there sat my old armor. I sighed and reluctantly pulled out the armor. _I was hoping I wouldn't have to put this armor on again._ I thought to myself as I finished strapping on the chest plate. I then strapped on the greaves and started to return to the group.

When I returned to them they were all just sitting around waiting for me. Aang saw me first and asked. "Why are you wearing your old armor, Lee?" The rest of group looked at me quizzically. I sighed and told them. "You see that village down there." I pointed to the village. They nodded. "I've been there before. It's controlled by the Fire Nation. That's why I needed the armor. I think it would be better if I was disguised." "I think that's a good idea." Sokka said. All eyes were instantly on him. "If we get into any trouble, Lee may be able to help us out." Everyone nodded in agreement and we started towards the village. When we got to the village I separated from the group so as not to arouse suspicion. I was still close enough to see them but not close enough to be with them. After walking around and buying supplies I saw the boy from before enter a store, and Katara followed him along with the others. A few seconds later the windows slammed shut.

I decided to go see what was up. I walked and opened the door everybody looked surprised at first but upon see that it was me, Katara, Aang, and Sokka calmed down. The boy and a woman, his mother I guessed, looked at me angrily. "What do you want? I already paid the tax this week." Said the boy's mom. _I forgot about the tax._ I thought to to myself. "I'm not with the soldiers." I said. That surprised the woman. "But why are you dressed like a soldier?" She asked suspiciously. "Trust us he's not Fire Nation." Sokka said. Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door. "Open up!" Someone yelled. Sokka opened the window a little and there he saw a group of three Fire Nation soldiers. "Fire Nation! Act natural!" They all got into poses that weren't at all natural and it took all my will power not to face palm. The boy's mom opened the door and the commander of the soldiers strode in. "What do you want? I already paid you this week." The woman repeated "The tax just doubled." The commander started but I interrupted wanting to help. "I just informed her of the tax increase. She's already handed the money over." Everyone was surprised at this.

The commander was still suspicious though. "Let me see it." He said gruffly. I reached into my pouch of money and extracted several silver pieces and a gold piece. He looked at them for a second and snatched them from my hand. Then he walked out. The woman was very surprised at this. "T-thank you." She said. "It's no problem." I replied. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?" Sokka asked. "Five years. Firelord Ozai uses our towns coal mines to fuel his ships." The woman said sadly. "They're thugs." The boy said angrily. "They steal from us and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything a bout it." "Quiet Haru!" His mother snapped angrily. "Don't talk like that." "But, Haru is an earthbender." Katara stated. "He can help." "Not here." I said grimly. All eyes turned to me. "Think about it like this. If you had successfully captured a town, would you keep the enemy who could take it back around?" "So if Haru gets caught earthbending..." Aang started. "They could take him away." Haru's mother replied sadly.

* * *

After that we finished getting our supplies, and when we finished Haru's mom offered us a place to sleep as it was getting late. We graciously accepted her invitation and were led to a barn at the back of the house. "My mom said you could stay here tonight, but you should probably leave in the morning." "Thanks." Aang said gratefully. "I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay." We all turned to look at Appa. He had turned at the mention of his name with a mouthful of hay. He stopped chewing for a second and then returned to chewing. I chuckled at this and Haru left, Katara following close behind. I shrugged at this and started setting up camp. After we had all set up camp we were left with nothing to do. "Ughhhh! I'm boooored!" Sokka said laying back into a pile of hay.**  
**

"I have a game we could play." I said. "And what would that be?" Sokka asked not changing positions. "It's called pai sho. General Iroh taught it to me on Zuko's ship." "Pie shoe?" Sokka asked. "No pai sho." I responded. "It's inspired by flower arranging." "I think I remember playing that once or twice with the monks at the air temple. From what I remembered it was confusing." I smiled. "That was probably the air temple version." I responded. "There are different ways to play that are less complicated. Would you guys like me to show you how to play?" "Sure!" Aang said enthusiastically. "Beats just sitting here." Sokka said sitting up. I got up and grabbed my pack ,pulled out two pai sho sets, and the collapsible playing table. I set up everything. "Now pay close attention my young pupils." I said like a teacher to his students. Then I proceeded to tell them about the rules of pai sho.

* * *

"Aw come on! The white lotus gambit again!" Sokka shouted. We had all been taking turns playing the winner of the previous game for hours. So basically they were taking turns playing against me. "Well I can't help it you keep falling for it." I replied smiling. Suddenly the door to the barn slid opened. "What are you guys doing?" Katara asked. "We're playing a game now shhhhhhshhhh." Sokka said watching the board as Aang and began. "How long have you guys been playing?" Katara asked. "Since you left." I responded not looking away from the board. "Why?" "You guys have been playing for 3 hours." I looked out the window at the top of the barn and said. "Sorry Aang we'll have to finish the game later." I said yawning. "We should get ready for bed."

"Ok." Aang responded sadly. We all climbed into our respective sleeping bags but before we could fall asleep, Katara had a story to tell us about her adventure with Haru. "It was so brave for Haru to use his earthbending to help that old man." Katara said finishing her story. "You must have really inspired him." Aang said dangling off Appa's head. "I guess so." Katara responded. "I don't think that was the wisest choice." I said from my bag on Appa's tail. "What do you mean?" Katara asked, head tilted to the side. "I mean, that although it may have been the right thing to do, it might not have been smart. What if the old man tells one of the many patrols of Fire Nation soldiers?" "Why would he do that?" Aang asked confused. "Haru saved his life." I sighed. "Aang you'd be surprised at what people will do when just a small portion of money is introduced." I said speaking from experience. A similar thing had happened to me.

"Well whatever the case may be, everyone should get some sleep, we're leaving at dawn." "Dawn!?" Katara asked shocked at another early wake up. "Can't we just sleep in for once." "Absolutely not!" Sokka exclaimed. "This town is crawling with Fire Nation troops. If they find out you're here Aang we'll be eating fireballs for breakfast. Now good night." "Rather eat fireballs then nuts." Katara murmured smugly. "Good night!" Sokka said angrily. We all had a laugh and went to sleep after that.

* * *

Early the next morning we all got up, reluctantly albeit, and started preparing to leave the village when suddenly Katara came running in. "They took him!" She exclaimed. "They took Haru away!" "What?!" Aang said surprised. "The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It's all my fault, I forced him into earthbending!" "I knew this would happen." I said quietly. "Slow down, Katara." Said Sokka trying to keep Katara calm. "When did this happen?" "Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." Katara said calming down. "Then it's too late to track him, he's long gone." Sokka replied. "We don't need to track him." Katar said, her voice gaining the edge it had on Kyoshi Island. "The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru." We were all very confused at this. "Why would they do that?" Aang asked as confused as the rest of us. "Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending." Now we just looked at her like she was crazy.

* * *

On our way to a mineshaft Katara explained her plan to us. Then Sokka felt the need to recap. "I thought you were crazy at first Katara, but this might work." Sokka started. "There are ventilation shafts throughout these mines. All, Aang has to do is send an air current from that vent to this one right here. The boulder will levitate and tada, fake earthbending." "Aang did you get all that?" Katara asked. Aang wasn't paying much attention, if any, he was instead playing with a butterfly. "Sure, sure I got it." "Do you remember your cue?" Sokka asked, becoming agitated at the fact that Aang wasn't paying attention. "Yeah, yeah just relax." Aang said nonchalantly. "You're taking all the fun out of this." "By this do you mean being intentionally captured by an army of ruthless Fire Nation soldiers?" Sokka asked. "Exactly." Aang responded. "That's fun stuff." Sokka didn't have time argue with Aang because the soldiers showed up. "Here they come. Get in your places."

I didn't have a big part in this plan. I was just to wait on the hill above the mineshaft, and if things went south, intervene. But everything went according to plan. Katara and Sokka had their "fight", Katara "earthbent" the boulder, and was dragged away. She was taken to a ship and sailed to little metal platform. A good prison for an earthbender, since it was in the middle of the ocean, miles away from any rock, and they couldn't bend metal. Aang took one look at the facility and was instantly scared for his friend. "She'll be fine, Aang." Sokka said comfortingly. "Katara knows what she's doing." Aang turned Appa around so as not to be spotted. We landed on an island a few miles away and waited.

* * *

12 hours later we arrived back at the horrid prison. Aang had just come back with Katara. "Your 12 hours are up, where's Haru? We got to get out of here." Sokka said. "I can't." Katara replied as Aang jumped onto Appa's head. "We don't have much time there are guards everywhere get on." Sokka responded, ignoring her comment. Katara looked uncertain. "Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked, concerned for his friend. That's when Katara dropped a bombshell on all of us. "I'm not leaving." She said simply. We all looked at each other in shock. "I'm not giving up on these people."

We all got onto the steel platform to talk about, Katara's odd decision. "What do you mean you're not leaving?!" Sokka asked still in shock. "We can't abandon these people!" Katara responded with determination in her voice. "There has to be a way to help them." "Maybe she's right. What do you say, Sokka?" Aang asked siding with Katara. "I say you're both crazy." We then had to duck quickly as a searchlight passed out position. Luckily we weren't spotted. "I don't like it either." I said. "If they find out you're a waterbender, you'll be sent to a worse prison than this floating pile of metal." I thought of the prisons were they kept waterbenders, let's just say it wasn't pleasant.

"Come on, Katara if Lee thinks this is a bad idea then it probably is." Sokka said. "He knows more about the Fire Nation than any of us. Come on let's go!" "No!" Katara said firmly. Sokka shook his head. "I hate it when you get like this. Come on we better hide." Sokka was right, there was the light of lanterns coming closer to our position. We ran and hid as Aang sent Appa away. We saw a pile of boxes so we hid behind them to think of a plan. "We don't have much time. What are going to do?" Sokka said concern creeping into his voice.

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane." Aang said. We all looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "The warden would run away and we could take his keys." Aang said elaborating on his stupid idea. "Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?" Sokka asked, pointing out the flaw in his plan. "I'm just tossing ideas around." Aang defended himself. "I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work." Katara said sadly. "If there was just a way to help them help themselves." I scoffed at her. "They can't fight back, Katara." I said. Everyone looked at me. "Think about it. They're on an entirely metal platform in the of the freakin' ocean, not a trace of earth sight. How could they fight back." "But there has to be a way." Katara responded voice full of hope. Then an idea popped into my head. "Actually there may just be a way." I said thinking back. "Haru's mother said Ozai exploits the town coal mines for fuel. So that mean there has to be some laying around here somewhere. That could be just what we need." I finished.

* * *

Sokka had just finished explaining the plan when the guards caught us. "There's the intruder!" A guard yelled. _Intruder?_ I thought to myself. _But__ what abut me? _Then I realized I was still in my Fire Nation armor. _I have an advantage._ I thought. "Stay back!" Sokka yelled, pulling out his boomerang. I stepped back slowly and took a firebending stance. Sokka looked at me and I just shot him a wink. Then an elderly man with a white beard and hair came up and pleaded with Katara. "Katara stop." He said. "You can't win this fight." Katara just stood there. "Listen to him well, child." The warden said as he suddenly appeared. "You're one mistake away from dying where you stand." Then the guards started to close in on, Katara, and, Sokka, and to keep up appearances, I did as well. _Come on, Aang. Where's that Coal? _I thought as we got closer and closer.

Then suddenly I noticed a rumbling sound coming from the vent. The grate flew up and away as a wave of coal shot out of the vent. Suddenly a soot covered Aang shot out of the vent and landed on top of the coal pile. It looked pretty epic, until he started hacking up coal dust like an old man. Katara ran on top of the pile and started to try to inspire the earthbenders to fight back. "Here's your chance earthbenders, take it!" She shouted holding a piece of coal in her hand. "Your fate is in you're own hands!" I spied Haru in the crowd and saw he was about to step up until the man from before, his father I'm guessing, stopped him.

The earthbenders backed away looking afraid of the coal that lay before them. Then the warden started laughing like it was the most hilarious joke in the world. "Foolish girl." He started arrogantly. "You thought a few inspirational words, and some coal could change these people? Look at these blank hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh but you still believe in them. How sweet. They are a waste of your energy little girl. You failed." He started walking away when suddenly a chunk of coal rocketed towards the warden's head. The warden turned around looking pissed, and there was Haru spinning three chunks of coal with his earthbending.

The warden launched two streams of fire at Haru. He flinched away bracing himself for pain, when suddenly a wall of coal moved to protect him. Haru's father had made a wall of coal to protect his son. "Show no mercy." The warden said as they prepared to fire. "Not a problem!" I yelled. They each fired a fireball at the earthbenders and I shot one towards the fireball nearest to me. My fireball caused the one I hit to veer of course and hit the fireball next to it causing a domino effect. After that the earthbenders formed a giant wall of coal. Before they threw it at the soldiers I threw as many fireballs as it as I could, to cause more damage. Then all heck broke loose. The earthbenders charged at the soldiers and attacked. After, Katara, Sokka, and, Aang vouched for me I stood along side the earthbenders, heating the coals before they launched them at the soldiers.

I looked around and saw all the elements fighting together. Earth, fire, air, and water, all working together to defeat a common enemy. _This is how it should always be._ I thought to myself. After a few minutes of fighting we realized we needed to get out of here, so Haru and his father got a pile of coal and pressurized it until it formed into a solid rock. They then launched it at the entrance of the prison, creating a hole to escape. "Get to the ship!" Haru's father yelled. "We'll hold them off."

"Do not let them escape!" The warden yelled as the prisoners ran towards the hole. Aang stopped running, turned around, and formed a funnel out of air. "Guys, give me some coal." We put coal at the top and it shot out the bottom. We put in a few pieces at first but then, Sokka put in an arm full and it send the warden and his men to the ground. The warden and his men started to move backwards on the coal.

The earthbenders were using the coal to lift the warden up on a platform. They then moved the platform over the water. The warden then begged for mercy. "No, please!" He whimpered. "I can't swim!" Haru's father then came up with one of the best lines I had heard. "Don't worry." He started. "I hear cowards float." He then dropped him and his men in the ocean.

* * *

Haru and his father had talked to Katara, thanking her for giving them hope. But when she got back on Appa she seemed very down heartened. Noticing this I decided to talk to her about it. "Are you ok, Katara?" "I'm fine, Lee." She lied. "Katara, I know there's something wrong. Just tell me." I replied softly. She sighed and told me. "My necklace is gone." I failed to see the problem. "Is that all?" I asked as kindly as I could. "You don't understand." She said angrily. "That was my mother's necklace. It's the last thing I have of her." She then brought her knees to he chest as she started crying quietly.

I didn't know what to do so I wrapped my arms around her trying my best to soothe her. I told her it would be ok, and that we would find the necklace. "How do you know that?" She sobbed. "How do you know we'll find it? It could be anywhere on this spirit forsaken Earth." "Call it a gut feeling." I said. "I promise you we will find it."

* * *

**So sorry it took so long to update. Why did it take so long you may ask. Well it was a number of things, first by the time I did start writing school started so things were crazy with that. But anyway I'm back and I'm going to continue writing. So review... Actually you know what screw that. I'm not going to beg for reviews anymore. If you want to review than do so. So until next time, stay flamin' and peace off.**


	6. The Spirit World

**Hello guys and gals welcome to another exciting chapter. So I don't have much to say this time around... Sooo... On with the story?**

* * *

We were flying high above the ground on Appa. It had been a few days since the events at the prison, and everyone seemed happy. We were all relaxing I was trying to control my fire better, trying to heat it up and cool it down. I was getting a little bit better, but I still wasn't going anywhere fast. Sokka was carving something out of wood, what it was I have no idea. Aang was chewing on a bit of grass, and Katara was looking at the clouds. "Those clouds look so soft, don't they?" She asked. "Like you could just jump down and you would land in a big soft cottony heap." "Maybe you should give it a try." Sokka said sarcastically. "Your hilarious." His sister replied.

"I'll try it!" Aang exclaimed happily. He then proceeded to jump off Appa's head and fall through the clouds. The others looked over the side of the saddle either in fear or curiosity. I, however, remained where I was, I knew Aang could handle a little free falling, he was an airbender after all. I continued to focused on the flame for a few moments, trying to the flame beyond orange but failing. I closed my hand, extinguishing the flame, deciding I was done for the day. The moment I closed my hand, Aang landed in front of me, dripping wet. It was funny to see the boy diving through the clouds and coming back up soaked.

"Turns out clouds are made of water." Aang said. I smiled a little at his simple statement. At least I did until he used his airbending to dry himself off, and made my hair stick up like a porcupine. Everybody laughed when they saw my hair and that fact alone made me quickly fix my hair. After the laughter had died down, Katara saw something. "Hey what is that?" She asked as she walked towards the front of the saddle to get a better a view, with us closely behind her.

What I saw was an all too familiar, stomach churning sight. At first all I saw was lush green forest, but then I saw a large black spot and I knew what had happened. I had seen it many times while I traveled with Zuko. "It looks like a scar." Sokka said. I couldn't look anymore, so went to the back of the saddle as, Aang brought us down to investigate.

* * *

We landed in a clearing and started looking around. "Listen." Sokka commanded. "I don't hear anything." I replied. "Exactly, it's so quiet. There's no life anywhere." I then let my guilt get the better of me and went back to App and laid down in the saddle while no one was looking. I normally wasn't an emotional person but a lot of the things I had seen lately in such a short amount of time was getting to me, and what Sokka was saying wasn't really helping. "Fire nation! Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for-!" He was quickly cut off by his sister. "What I'm not aloud to be angry?" Sokka whispered. She pointed at Aang who had fallen to his knees in sadness.

"How could anyone do this? How could I let this happen?" _He blames himself for something my people did, he shouldn't feel guilty, if anyone should feel guilty it's me. _I thought to myself. "Aang you didn't let this happen. This has nothing to do with you." Katara said trying to console the young boy, but he would have none of it. "Yes it does." He said sadly. "It's the Avatar's job to protect nature, but I don't how to do my job." "That why we're going to the north pole. To find you a teacher." Katara responded. "Yeah, a waterbending teacher." He replied still sounding sad.

"But there's no one who can teach me how to be the avatar. Monk Gyatso said Avatar Roku would help me." "The Avatar before you?" Sokka asked confused. "He died over a hundred years ago. How are you supposed to talk to him?" "I don't know." Aang replied as Momo crawled into his lap.

* * *

I was doing better and Aang was doing a little better when Katara walked over to the young monk. "Hey, Aang, are you ready to be cheered up." "No." He replied glumly. Then Katara threw an acorn at him. "Nice shot!" I exclaimed. She had an aim that was similar to that of the Yuyan Archers. Not _as _accurate, but still similar. "Hey, how was that cheering me!" Aang asked as the waterbender tossed another acorn up and down, which she threw at me when I said, laughing. "It cheered me up!" It was true, that was enough to get me some what happy again.

"These acorns are everywhere, Aang." Katara said. Aang didn't seem to understand completely so Katara continued. "That means the forest will grow back. Everyone of these will be a tall oak tree some day, and all the birds and the animals that lived here will come back." That really helped Aang and I. At least not everything was not lost. "Thanks Katara." Then an old man appeared and Sokka went into "suspicion mode" as I like to call it. Not the highest setting of suspicion mode mind you but suspicion mode none the less.

"Hey! Who are you?" He asked the old man. The old man just ignored Sokka though and talked to Aang. "When I saw the fly bison I thought it was impossible. But those markings..." He said. "Are you the Avatar child?" Aang looked to Katara with a look that asked for permission to tell the man his true identity. Katara simply nodded then Aang nodded back to the old man. "My village desperately needs your help."

* * *

The old man took us to his village not far from where we were. As we walked through the village we saw that some of the buildings are destroyed. I had a hard time figuring out what had caused this destruction. In my mind I was trying to figure out what might have caused this. _No scorch marks, _I thought to myself, s_o not the Fire Nation. Not the Earth Kingdom, 1) this is an Earth Kingdom village, and 2) there's no piles of rock laying around. Water Tribe isn't likely so the only logical explanation is an animal. But I don't know of any animal that could cause this much destruction._ This whole situation was very odd, but I put my thoughts aside for the moment as we walked into what looked like the town hall.

The old man gestured to Aang as he said. "This young person is the Avatar." Then a younger looking man in a brown robe, I guessed the village leader, stepped forward. "So, the rumor of your return are true." He said as he bowed. "It is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence." Aang returned the gesture saying. "Nice to meet you to." Then there was moment of silence as he thought of a way to phrase his next words. "So... Is there something I can help you with?" "I'm not sure." Replied the village leader. The old man then proceeded to persuade the leader to tell Aang the problem. "Our village is in crisis! He's our only hope.

The village leader nodded sadly and the old man proceeded to explain the problem that plagued the village. "For the last few days at sunset a spirit monster has attacked our village." I looked outside to see that the sun was very near to setting. "He is Hei Bai, the black and white spirit." He finished. "Why is it attacking you? Sokka questioned. "We don't know." The village leader said as he walked towards the door. "But each of the last three he has taken one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near." "What happens then?" Katara asked. The old man answered.

"As a solstice draws near, the natural world and the spirit world will grow closer and closer until the line between them becomes blurred completely." "Hei Bai is already causing devastation and destruction. Once the solstice is here-" "There's no telling the kind of destruction he could cause." I finished. The leader nodded sadly. "So what do you want me to do exactly?" Aang asked confused.

"Who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the spirit world, then the Avatar himself?" The old man said. "You are the great bridge between man, and spirit." "Rrrriiiiight." Aang responded clearly not buying it. "That's me." "Hey, great bridge guy." Katara whispered to Aang. "Can I talk to you over here for a second." Aang walked over to the window that Katara was now standing in front of quickly followed by, Sokka and I. "Aang, you seem a little unsure about all this." Katara said.

"Yeah, that might be because I don't know anything at all about the spirit world." Sokka, and, Katara share a look of uncertainty. "It's not like there someone to teach me this stuff." Aang said defensively. "So, can you help these people?" Katara asked. "I have to try don't I?" Aang said optimistically. "Maybe whatever I have to do will just... Come to me." "That's the _spirit._" I said smiling. "Get it? Spirit." Katara just rolled her eyes, Aang smiled, and, Sokka laughed out loud.

"But all jokes aside, you can do this." I said encouragingly. "I think you can do it, Aang." Katara said. "Yeah, we're all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster." Sokka said sarcastically. I slapped him upside the head. "Hey!" He yelled. I just whistled innocently. Everyone burst out laughing.

* * *

As the sun was setting we sent, Aang out to deal with the spirit monster. But to me I, could shake the feeling like we were sending him to his death. "Hello? Spirit? can you here me?" I heard Aang yell. "This is the Avatar speaking. I'm here to try and help stuff." "This isn't right." Sokka said upset while watching Aang from the window. "We can't sit here and cower while, Aang waits for some monster to show up." "If anyone can save us, he can." The old man spoke up. "He still shouldn't have to face this alone." Sokka replied. "You're right." I said. "I'll go." "What are you talking about?" Sokka asked.

"You said he shouldn't have to face alone, and since no one else is volunteering I am." I replied simply. "You sure you want to do this?" Sokka asked, concern evident in his voice. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." I replied confidently. "Alright, but just, be careful." Katara said. I just smirked. "Aren't I always?" Then I dived out the window.

I walked over to Aang and he gave me a look of confusion. "What are you doing here?" He asked me. "I wasn't going to just let you go through this alone did you?" He smiled at me and said. "Thanks, Lee." We stood there as the sun set. "The sun has set." Aang yelled. "Where are you Hei Bai?" He looked around and saw nothing. Then he said. "Well, spirit uh... I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace." Then for a little bit of dramatic flare he twirled his staff around and pushed it down on the ground.

"Ok well I guess that's settled then." He then start to walk away until I stopped him. I had a bad feeling about all this. "I don't think this is over." I said seriously. "What else do you think I should do?" "I don't know." I said. "But I just have a bad feeling about this." "What makes you say that?" The suddenly the ground started shaking. It was barely noticeable at first, but then it closer and closer then it suddenly stopped. Aang and I turned around slowly then we saw a giant black and white creature who I could only guess was Hei Bai. "Just a hunch." I said.

"You must be the Hei Bai spirit." Aang said calmly, he then started to bow. "My name is-" He didn't get finish as the spirit roared the he started to destroy the village. "My name is Aang!" Aang yelled over the beast's rampage. "I'm the Avatar, and I would like to help!" Hei Bai just ignored him and continued towards the buildings of the village, so, Aang ran after him, with me quickly following. Hei Bai destroyed one of the buildings in one hit, the in a flash he was at the one across the street, hitting it. Then he swiped at a water tower then he roared and it instantly was gone, the only thing left was the base of the poles that held it up.

Aang was running around as Hei Bai was destroying different buildings, trying to get its attention. Needless to say the beast was more interested in destroying the buildings, than conversing with young monk. Finally the beast stood in one place for more than a few moments, so Aang decided to try to speak to him again. He jumped up on top of the building behind the black and white spirit, as it was smashing a building into the ground. "I'm just trying to do my job as spirit bridge!" Aang yelled

Hei Bai continued to beat the building to dust. "Excuse me! Could you please turn around?!" Aang yelled again trying to remain polite and civil. The beast continued to ignore the young Avatar, and Aang dropped the politeness. "I command you to turn around now!" He yelled clearly fed up with the monster. I guess the spirit wasn't fond of being commanded so it turned around and backhanded Aang over the buildings 30 feet away from where he was once standing.

That was the last straw for me and I attacked it. I launched a fire bomb at Hei Bai which exploded as soon as it hit the spirit. Hei Bai flinched at this and looked for the source of the annoyance. When he saw me his eyes narrowed and he started chasing me. I had thought that he was chasing me for attacking him. But the real reason was a little bit more than that. I ran around for a bit until the giant spirit monster cornered me. I thought it was the end for until, Sokka came out of nowhere and yelled at, Hei Bai. "Hei Bai, over here." He threw his boomerang at the beast but it didn't even notice, so, Sokka started running towards me. "Sokka go back." I yelled at him.

"We can fight him together, Lee." Sokka said confidently. "It's not our job, Sokka, if anyone's it's Aa-" I started but suddenly Hei Bai ran past and quickly snatched up, Sokka and ran into the forest. "No!" I yelled. Then as suddenly as, Sokka appeared, Aang appeared. "Aang!" I yelled. The monk in question ran towards me quickly. "Where's Hei Bai?" "He ran into the forest! Aang he's got, Sokka!" When I finished Aang opened his glider and started flying towards the forest. "Sokka!" I heard a voice yell. I turned and saw it was Katara. I went over to try and comfort her. "Don't worry Katara." I said. "We'll get Sokka back.""I know." She said. "I just can't help but worry." "Me too." I reply. For some reason I had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.

* * *

Katara and I had been waiting at the main entrance to the village for hours, and it was nearly sunrise, but neither, Aang, nor, Sokka had returned. The old man from before had returned placed his shawl on Katara. "I'm sure they'll be back. You should get some rest." He said. "Everything's going to be ok." Katara replied. "You're brother is in good hands." The old man said. "I would be shocked if the Avatar returned without him." Through out this exchange I was just standing against the wall, feeling like an idiot for not going after Sokka. _Calm down Lee. _I said myself. _Any minute now Aang, and Sokka will be back any minute now. _The sun rose behind me and the old man said. "The sun is rising, perhaps he will return soon." The old man said.

I walked off looking for something to do. I needed something to keep my mind off the current situation. Whether it be training, or something like basket weaving.

...

I decided training was the better option. I went to a secluded area so no one would see me. I don't think a villager would enjoy the sight of a firebender firebending near their village considering that a large amount of their forest was recently destroyed by said benders. I created a small flame in the palm of my hand. I focused on the flame and focused my breathing and slowly it grew from a red color to an orange color. But I couldn't make It grow any further. No matter what I did it remained small and orange. I clenched my fist in anger and frustration, immediately snuffing out the flame. For whatever reason I couldn't keep focus on the training. It might have been that Aang, and Sokka were missing, but I knew they could handle themselves. It was the spirit monster. It had came at me even more fiercely than it did to Aang. I thought about that for a while, why would it come after me more than Aang?

I tired to recall what little knowledge I had about the spirit world, but I came up with little to nothing. I had to think of something so I turned to the one place I thought I wouldn't have to go to in this adventure.

... The library. Don't get me wrong I usually like to gain knowledge but when _I _wanted to, not when I had to. Although I didn't technically have to I felt a nagging in the back of my head telling me to go. So I went back towards the village and I started looking for the old man. He was very kind to Katara and I so i figured he would be willing to help. I looked around for him and soon I had found him. "Excuse me sir." I said trying to sound respectful. The man smiled and kindly said. "Please call me Toshi. What can I do for you young man?" "I was wondering if there was a library in this village, and if so, could you take me there?" Toshi smiled and nodded. "Ah a seeker of knowledge. I am pleased to see a youth, such as yourself, have a pursuit towards knowledge. Yes there is a library here, and if you'll follow me I'll lead you to it."

"Thank you, si-, Toshi." I replied, catching myself before I said 'sir'. Toshi lead me towards a building near the edge of the village. As we enter I noticed that it was one of the least damaged buildings in this village. I guess spirit monsters don't like libraries either. There wasn't a huge amount of writings but there was a moderate amount. There where about 20 cases with books and scrolls lining their shelves. "Was there anything in particular that you were looking for?" Toshi asked. "I was looking for any information on the spirit world." I replied. "So the spirits interest you as much as they did this old man?" Toshi smiled as he asked. His smile then turned into a frown as he said. "Sadly there is not much information on the spirits in this library."

My hope dropped instantly. "Nothing?" I asked the old man. "Well there might be a few pieces of parchment, perhaps a scroll if your lucky." I smiled my hope had risen slightly. "Every little helps." I said. "Thank you very much Toshi. You've helped me, and possibly the Avatar greatly." "Anything to help a fellow seeker of knowledge." The old wanderer replied. He walked off and I turned to the rows of shelves. Now comes my "favorite" part of research, looking for the information you need. Plus with how little there is on the subject it makes it even harder to find. Let the search begin.

* * *

It had been a few hours since I started my search and I had found that Toshi was right, there was very little on the spirits or the world they resided in. I had found a few scraps of parchment, but without the other pieces they were all riddles. Finally I had found a scroll with vague information, it told about some of the the different spirits, and the spirit world itself. As I was finishing reading the scroll, something caught my attention so I started reading it out loud. "The spirit world is connected to the physical world. Although we are unsure how or why they are connected, we do know that, at some times, a great change in one world can have effects on the other."

That sounded like what was happening now. _But what happened that pissed off a spirit this much? _I thought of what we'd seen before we came to this village. Then I flashed back to the sickening black mark in the middle of the forest. "The forest fire!" I said out loud. "Shhhh!" A librarian shushed me. "Sorry." I apologized quietly. I thought I should tell Katara this so I quickly ran out of the library. As I looked around for Katara I noticed that the sun was starting to set, so I quickly picked up the pace. I found her in front of the town hall building.

"Katara!" I yelled. She looked over to me. "Lee, where have you been? I haven't seen you since this morning." The water tribe girl said. "I've been doing research on the spirits." I replied. "It turns out that sometimes if something happens in the physical world then it can effect the spirit world, and vice versa." The young waterbender looked confused. "I don't understand." She said. "What does that have to do with this." I sighed in frustration. "Katara, think." I said as calmly as I could. "What have we seen recently that would anger the spirits?" Katara's brow furrowed as she thought.

Then her face lit up in recognition. "The forest fire!" She said. "Exactly." I replied. "So, all Aang has to do is appease the spirit. If he ever comes back." I said sadly. "Don't talk like that!" Katara yelled. "He will come back!" "Alright, Alright." I said trying to calm my friend down. As I said that we looked over towards the horizon and we saw something flying in the sky. As it closer we noticed it was Aang. "You're back!" Katara cried as she ran and hugged the young monk. I walked over to him and put him into a head-lock and gave him a noogie. "About time you got back." I said smiling. "It was getting boring here without you. I mean I had to go to the library." I gave a fake shudder. Katara smiled and asked. "Where's Sokka?" "Yeah where is ?" I asked wondering where the male water tribe warrior was.

Aang looked down. "I'm not sure." He said dejectedly. We stood in silence for a few moments as the sun started to set. "Don't worry we'll get them back." I said smiling. "Anng just needs to deal with the spirit and we'll find everyone." I didn't know that of course, but false hope is better than no hope. "Are you sure?" Katara asked. "Positive." Lie. "Oh Aang. I need to tell you something. The spirit is ticked that the forest was burned down. I'm not sure how but your going to appease him." Aang nodded. "Alright, I'll deal with the spirit. If I can't stop it you need to protect the villagers."

I nodded. "Count on it." "Be careful Aang." Katara said with a worried expression on her face. "I will be." The monk replied. I led Katara into city hall. We watched as Aang waited for the spirit to come. Suddenly it crashed through a building and Aang used a sphere of air to block the debris, but he stood his ground. "Aang what are you doing?! Run!" Katara Yelled. Hei Bai heard her and started running towards us. Aang jumped over the black and white spirit and put his hand on his forehead.

Hei Bai stopped moving breathed deeply. "I know how you feel." Aang said to the spirit. "Your upset and angry because your home was burned down. When I saw that the forest had burnt I was sad and upset. But my friend gave me hope that the forest would grow back." Then he held out an acorn and placed it on the ground. Hei Bai picked it up and he looked like he was about to turn and leave but then he saw me and growled. I thought he was gonna grab me and run away but Aang intervened.

"Lee's not the one who burnt down your forest." The young nomad said to the spirit. "He was just as upset as you were when he saw the forest had burned. Hei Bai nodded, and turned around. As he turned he turned into a giant panda. After Hei Bai walked through the entrance to the village bamboo grew instantly where Hei Bai was just at. Out of it emerged the villagers and Sokka. To say the least they all looked very confused. As soon as she saw her brother Katara ran and hugged him.

"What happened?" Sokka asked as they both separated. "You were trapped in the spirit world for 24 hours." Katara responded. "How do you feel?" "Like, I seriously need to use the bathroom." Sokka replied as he started waddling towards the nearest bathroom. "There's the jokes we all love to hate." I said as I smiled.

* * *

Soon after everyone was reunited with their families the Village leader offered us thanks for helping the village, saying that he wished that there was a way to repay us, and of course Sokka being Sokka spoke up immediately. "You could give us some supplies and some money." "Sokka!" His sister said embarrassed as she elbowed him in the side. Sokka however saw nothing wrong with the request. "What? We need stuff." The leader bowed and said to us. "It would be an honor to help you prepare for your journey." Then he walked off. I walked over to Tashi to say goodbye to the old man. He was very helpful in this ordeal and I wanted to say thanks.

"Tashi." I said as I approached him. He looked at me and said. "Ah my young knowledge seeking friend. What can I do for you?" I shook my head. "Nothing. I just wanted to thank you for your help. You offered Katara support when she needed it, and helped me in my research." Tashi smiled and said. "Think nothing of it." I nodded and smiled. "Maybe one day I could come back and help you rebuild your village here." I said. "I would enjoy that very much." Tashi said. "I wish you safe travels and for the spirits to watch over you." I smiled as he walked away.

But after he left my smile fell as I heard that we were going to the one place I thought I wouldn't return to ever... Home.

* * *

**Well it certainly has been awhile since my last update and I want to apologize for that. But I'm not going to dwell on the fact that hadn't touched this story in months. No I shall endeavor to make sure this doesn't happen again.**

**...**

**But knowing me this will probably happen several more times XD**


End file.
